masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgWei-Yin Chen’s first three pitches tonight missed the strike zone. His fifth missed every glove in the ballpark and landed on the wrong side of the fence.

Derek Jeter hit his 25th leadoff home run, breaking Rickey Henderson’s franchise record and giving the Yankees a 1-0 lead. Jeter clobbered an 88 mph fastball.

Nick Swisher followed with a double to right-center field on an 83 mph slider.

Not exactly what the Orioles wanted to see from their Taiwanese pitcher in his major league…Wei-Yin Chen’s first three pitches tonight missed the strike zone. His fifth missed every glove in the ballpark and landed on the wrong side of the fence.

Derek Jeter hit his 25th leadoff home run, breaking Rickey Henderson’s franchise record and giving the Yankees a 1-0 lead. Jeter clobbered an 88 mph fastball.

Nick Swisher followed with a double to right-center field on an 83 mph slider.

Not exactly what the Orioles wanted to see from their Taiwanese pitcher in his major league debut.

Robinson Cano flied to center for the first out, but Chen hit Alex Rodriguez with a 90 mph fastball. Mark Teixeira lined to left on an 84 mph changeup, another hard-hit ball in the inning, and Curtis Granderson struck out on a 74 mph curveball.

Chen returned to the dugout with his pitch count at 24, including 13 strikes. Brian Matusz threw 30 pitches in the opening inning last night.

Update: J.J. Hardy tied the game with his second home run. The Orioles have homered in the first or second inning in all five games this season.

Nine of Hardy’s 32 career homers with the Orioles have come in the first or second inning.

Before Chen did it tonight, the last pitcher to surrender a home run to the first batter he faced in the majors was Cleveland’s Zach Putnam on Sept. 13, 2011 at Texas (Adrian Beltre). That little bit of information comes courtesy of Elias Sports.

Matt Wieters just singled with two outs in the first, giving him five straight hits going back to last night.

Update: The Orioles took a 2-1 lead in the first after Garcia threw two wild pitches with Nick Johnson at the plate. The first ball almost hit Johnson in the head.

Chen struck out two while retiring the side in the top of the second, and he needed only 10 pitches. He fanned Brett Gardner on a 92 mph fastball.