masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgSARASOTA, Fla. – Wei-Yin Chen was handed a couple of excuses for his poor outing today, and he politely declined them.

The wind? Didn’t aid the three home runs that he surrendered. The limited starts in Grapefruit League games? Doesn’t matter.

“I felt OK today, but delivery-wise, they got my timing really well today,” Chen said through his interpreter after allowing six earned runs (seven total) and eight hits in 3 1/3 innings against the Philadelphia Phillies.

“Most of my pitches were…SARASOTA, Fla. – Wei-Yin Chen was handed a couple of excuses for his poor outing today, and he politely declined them.

The wind? Didn’t aid the three home runs that he surrendered. The limited starts in Grapefruit League games? Doesn’t matter.

“I felt OK today, but delivery-wise, they got my timing really well today,” Chen said through his interpreter after allowing six earned runs (seven total) and eight hits in 3 1/3 innings against the Philadelphia Phillies.

“Most of my pitches were up in the zone.”

Three of them cleared the fence. Chase Utley homered twice and Ryan Howard once before Chen came out of the game.

It’s another windy day at Ed Smith Stadium, but Chen didn’t blame the conditions.

“Not at all,” he said. “I think they hit really well today.”

Was it difficult going from the minor league environment to this one?

“If I said yes, that would be an excuse, but I won’t say anything,” Chen said.

“I think the most important thing is getting your timing and getting your delivery, and today I just didn’t do a good job.

“It’s a little bit different because once you’re in minor league (camp), you can work on every pitch, but here, once you make a mistake, you’ve got to pay for it.”

The Orioles trail the Phillies, 13-3, in the eighth inning after Yuniesky Betancourt’s three-run homer off reliever Darren O’Day.

Update: Pedro Strop, pitching for the first time since the World Baseball Classic, struck out the first two batters he faced and induced a fly ball in a routine eighth inning.

Strop fanned Layne Nix and Pete Orr.

Update II: Ryan Flaherty had an RBI double in the bottom of the eighth.

Phillies 13, Orioles 4.

Update III: Chris Robinson, Travis Ishikawa and Conor Jackson singled with two outs in the ninth, but Jason Pridie flied out to end the game. The Orioles lose to the Phillies, 13-4.