masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgSecond base umpire Gary Darling made the balk call on Wei-Yin Chen.

“To be honest with you, I have no idea (why),” Chen said through his interpreter. “I have a standard routine when I was on the mound and I do the same routine every time. After the game, I went back to the video room and I keep checking. I watched it (over and over). I couldn’t get it, and to be honest with you I don’t understand that.

“I can do better. I didn’t control my emotions really well at that time. It’s so…Second base umpire Gary Darling made the balk call on Wei-Yin Chen.

“To be honest with you, I have no idea (why),” Chen said through his interpreter. “I have a standard routine when I was on the mound and I do the same routine every time. After the game, I went back to the video room and I keep checking. I watched it (over and over). I couldn’t get it, and to be honest with you I don’t understand that.

“I can do better. I didn’t control my emotions really well at that time. It’s so hard for me. After that balk, I gave up that run. That was really sad.”

Chen is no more clear about why the Orioles don’t score many runs for him. They’ve totaled 38 in his last 13 starts, and 16 came in two outings.

“I only can focus on one thing and that is pitching,” he said. “And I just feel bad today. I wanted to provide an opportunity for the guys to get a win tonight. If you want blame, blame on me.”

Much of the blame rests on the offense.

“It’s tough,” said catcher Matt Wieters. “We’ve had two in a row where our starter’s gone out there and given us a great effort and given us a chance to win that game. That’s all we can ask from them. Hopefully, we can pick it up here and score some runs for those guys when they give us outings like that. But it’s just one. We’ll come back out tomorrow and go after it again.”

Adam Jones, who hit his 23rd homer tonight, continues to be impressed by Chen’s competitiveness.

“He battled,” Jones said. “That’s one thing he’s always done. He’s always, since he’s been here, he’s battled and never made an excuse for anything that he’s done. He pitches with a pair of them and that’s pretty much all I ask as a center fielder.”

I guess in this instance, a pair beats three of a kind, but I digress…

“The last eight games, we’ve honestly had really good outings by our starting staff,” Jones said. “Besides the last few days, we’ve put up some runs. We ran into (Justin) Masterson, we ran into (Jeremy) Hellickson. They don’t have good ERAs for no reason.

“We have to come out and swing the bats. We’ve got (David) Price and (James) Shields the next two days. We know that’s not easy. Everybody knows it’s not easy. But hey, it’s a test we have to pass. We have to go up against them and bust their tails.”

Manager Buck Showalter told reporters that reliever Stu Pomeranz could resume throwing on Thursday if his back doesn’t flare up. Second baseman Brian Roberts continues to do baseball activities and is beginning to increase the level of intensity. Pitcher Joel Pineiro underwent surgery today to repair a SLAP tear in his right labrum.