masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgWei-Yin Chen pitched a gem and the Orioles made the most of a pair of doubles to beat the Atlanta Braves 2-0 today at Turner Field, taking the series two games to one.

Coupled with Jason Hammel’s one-hitter last night, the Orioles posted back-to-back shutouts over a Braves team that is third in the National League in runs scored. O’s pitching shut out the Braves over the last 20 innings of the series.

It’s the first time the O’s have posted consecutive shutouts since Aug. 28-29, 2010…Wei-Yin Chen pitched a gem and the Orioles made the most of a pair of doubles to beat the Atlanta Braves 2-0 today at Turner Field, taking the series two games to one.

Coupled with Jason Hammel’s one-hitter last night, the Orioles posted back-to-back shutouts over a Braves team that is third in the National League in runs scored. O’s pitching shut out the Braves over the last 20 innings of the series.

It’s the first time the O’s have posted consecutive shutouts since Aug. 28-29, 2010 against the Angels.

Chen gave up just six hits – all singles – over seven innings. He gave up one walk and two strikeouts and threw 101 pitches, 70 for strikes. He is now 7-2 with an ERA of 3.36. Chen had allowed a single run in three of his starts but this was his first outing without allowing a run as an Oriole.

Chen and Hammel are the first pair of O’s to win seven games by this date since Mike Mussina (eight wins) and Sidney Ponson (seven) did it in 1999.

chen picth grey side sidebar.jpgThe Orioles used three pitchers to post a zero in the last of the eighth and Jim Johnson got the last three outs to record his 20th save in 21 chances.

The Orioles had just four hits today but they were able to turn a pair of leadoff doubles into runs. Adam Jones doubled to right to start the second and advanced to third on a fly out. He scored on a Mark Reynolds sac fly. It was Reynolds’ 11th RBI in 18 games since coming off the disabled list.

Steve Pearce doubled to start the Orioles’ sixth. He went to third on Chen’s sac bunt and scored on a balk charged to Randall Delgado, who tried to switch from the full windup to the stretch without breaking contact with the pitching rubber. Delgado gave up just three hits over eight innings, but he took the loss to fall to 4-7 with a 4.12 ERA.

The Orioles won a series from the Braves for just the second time in the last nine tries and they are now 9-3 in interleague play after going 7-11 last season.

The Orioles have won four straight series after losing four in a row.

The Orioles improved to 39-27 and have won seven of the last eight, nine of the last 12 and 10 of their past 14 games. They are 20-13 on the road.

The Orioles begin a three-game series at New York on Monday night against the Mets. Jake Arrieta (3-8, 5.89 ERA) will pitch against R.A. Dickey (10-1, 2.20 ERA).