O's game blog: Wei-Yin Chen on mound in Game 2 in Boston

The Orioles hit dramatic late-inning homers to pull out wins on Wednesday and Thursday at Washington, but they were held to two singles by Rich Hill at Fenway Park and shut out 7-0 last night.

This afternoon, they need a win at Boston to even this series and get back to the .500 mark at 77-77.

The Orioles went 2-for-29 at bat and were shut out for the 10th time this year. It was the first time they were shut out at Fenway Park since June 7, 2012. For Hill, it was his second career shutout - his first came Sept. 16, 2006 for the Cubs against Cincinnati - and that one was also a two-hitter.

On the mound this afternoon, left-hander Wei-Yin Chen (10-7, 3.36 ERA) makes his 30th start of 2015 and faces left-hander Craig Breslow (0-3, 4.53).

Chen has worked seven innings in back-to-back starts, going 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA against Kansas City and Tampa Bay. In nine starts since Aug. 1, Chen is 5-1 with a 3.62 ERA. Chen has allowed 28 homers, tied for fourth-most given up among all American League pitchers. He has allowed two or more in a game nine times.

Chen has held opponents to a .168 batting average with runners in scoring position this season, which leads all qualifying starting pitchers in the major leagues. In his last 26 starts (since April 25), Chen has allowed 28 walks in 165 innings, ranking second among qualifying AL starters in walks per nine innings ratio (1.53) and walks per batter faced (.041) in that span.

In three starts this year against Boston, Chen is 1-1 with a 2.08 ERA over 17 1/3 innings. In 14 career starts against the Red Sox, he is 6-4 with a 3.78 ERA.

Breslow comes out of the Boston bullpen to make this start. In 11 games since Aug. 1, he is 0-2 with an ERA of 7.47 and a .368 batting average against. In five games and 8 2/3 innings against the Orioles this year, he is 0-0 with a 2.08 ERA.

Red Sox starting pitchers have an ERA of 2.93 over the last 20 games, with 12 quality starts, as Boston has gone 12-8. The Sox are 29-22 since July 30.

The Orioles have clinched the season series over Boston. They've won the season series four consecutive years for the first time since 1964-67. The O's are 11-6 versus Boston this season and 46-27 since the 2012 season. In that time, they are 23-13 at Fenway Park.