Chen tosses seven scoreless innings as O's beat Boston in series finale

Wei-Yin Chen retired the first 11 batters he faced tonight and pitched seven scoreless innings as the Orioles beat Boston 6-0 in a rain-delayed win over the Red Sox in front of 25,886 at Camden Yards. The game was halted by rain before the last of the seventh at 9:11 p.m. It resumed after a 1-hour, 38-minute delay with just a few hundred hearty fans remaining to see the end as the O's took two of three in the series. Orioles pitchers gave up just one run this entire series over 27 innings, pitching two shutouts. O's starters went 21 innings, allowing 14 hits and one run. The last time the Orioles gave up one run or less in a three-game series at home was Sept. 29-Oct 1, 1995 against Detroit. Chen gave up just four hits and they were all singles. Just one Boston runner even got as far as second base against him. Chen did not walk a batter and fanned a season-high seven. Chen, who threw 87 pitches, improves to 7-2 with an ERA of 3.76 over 13 starts. The Orioles are 8-5 in those games. Four Boston runners were erased on the bases, three on double plays and Dustin Pedroia, who singled in the fourth and was thrown out at second by right fielder Nick Markakis. Over his past three starts, Chen is 2-0 with an ERA of 1.45. In 18 2/3 innings, he has allowed three runs with one walk and 17 strikeouts. The Orioles jumped on Boston starter Rubby De La Rosa for three runs in the first inning. Steve Pearce walked with one out and scored on an Adam Jones RBI double. Two batters later, Jones scored on a Chris Davis two-run homer. Davis began tonight in a 1-for-14 drought and batting just .164 his last 14 games. But he hit his 10th of the year on a 1-1 pitch for a 3-0 lead. In the fourth, the Orioles made it 4-0. J.J. Hardy reached on an infield single and later scored on Nick Hundley's RBI single to right. Jonathan Schoop and Markakis drew bases-loaded walks off Chris Capuano in the eighth to make it 6-0. The Orioles improved to 25-9 when scoring four runs or more. They had scored just five runs over their last three games and 14 in five games on this homestand. The Orioles improve to 14-15 at home, 5-5 against Boston, 15-9 against the AL East and 33-31 for the season. Now 4 1/2 games out of the division lead, the Orioles begin a four-game series with first-place Toronto on Thursday night. Kevin Gausman (1-1, 4.91 ERA) faces lefty Mark Buehrle (10-2, 2.04 ERA).