masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgSo the Orioles are 2-0 when Chris Tillman starts and he has an ERA of 1.35 in those two games. They are 0-5 when anyone else starts with an ERA of 8.76.

So, yeah, that has to change and soon.

We can talk about the Orioles’ lack of hitting – and the team has scored just 22 runs with only three homers in seven games – but this club will go only as far as its rotation will take it.

The offense should be good and the defense will likely be top shelf again. But the pitchers need to pull their…So the Orioles are 2-0 when Chris Tillman starts and he has an ERA of 1.35 in those two games. They are 0-5 when anyone else starts with an ERA of 8.76.

So, yeah, that has to change and soon.

We can talk about the Orioles’ lack of hitting – and the team has scored just 22 runs with only three homers in seven games – but this club will go only as far as its rotation will take it.

The offense should be good and the defense will likely be top shelf again. But the pitchers need to pull their weight.

This afternoon at Yankee Stadium, Wei-Yin Chen makes his second start. He gave up four runs and a career-high 12 hits last Thursday in a loss to Boston. Red Sox hitters went 12-for-27 (.444) against the lefty.

Chen’s struggles down the stretch last season have seemed to cause some fans to lose confidence in the lefty that was such a key part of the 2012 playoff Orioles.

In his last 11 starts of last year, Chen went 1-4 with a 5.55 ERA and he allowed 12 homers in 61 2/3 innings. He failed to get to 100 or more pitches in six of his last eight starts.

Now, injuries certainly could have been and maybe were a factor in the final two months of 2013 for Chen. He was out from May 13-July 10 with a strained oblique and after the season, he had right knee surgery.

Did the oblique and/or knee issues impact his stats late last year?

There is also the matter of Chen struggling to get deep into games. In his two years as an Oriole, when he reaches the 100-pitch mark, opponents bat .400 off him with an OPS of 1.224. In those 50 at-bats, opponents have hit four doubles and five homers off Chen.

Chen’s ERA from the sixth inning on was 5.14 in 2012 and last year it was 6.92 with seven homers over 26 innings.

The stat sheet tells us that Chen hits a wall at the 100-pitch mark. Yet we should remember that he threw 193 innings for the 2012 Orioles and also pitched well in a playoff start.

The Orioles went 19-13 in Chen’s starts during that 2012 season, but they are 12-12 in his 24 starts since then.

Can Chen turn around from his late-season struggles last year and prove he can pitch deeper in games?

His next chance to do just that comes today for an Orioles team looking to get – maybe desperate to get – a well-pitched game from a starter not named Tillman.