masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgYankees starter Freddy Garcia has thrown four wild pitches in four innings, including two during Nick Johnson’s at-bat in the first inning.

He also threw two in the fourth inning, after Adam Jones led off with a double to left-center field.

Matt Wieters walked, and Jones scored on Johnson’s ground ball to first. Jones went in standing and knocked the ball out of catcher Russell Martin’s mitt. Martin was charged with an error.

Orioles 3, Yankees 1.

As The Suns’ Dan Connolly pointed…Yankees starter Freddy Garcia has thrown four wild pitches in four innings, including two during Nick Johnson’s at-bat in the first inning.

He also threw two in the fourth inning, after Adam Jones led off with a double to left-center field.

Matt Wieters walked, and Jones scored on Johnson’s ground ball to first. Jones went in standing and knocked the ball out of catcher Russell Martin’s mitt. Martin was charged with an error.

Orioles 3, Yankees 1.

As The Suns’ Dan Connolly pointed out, Garcia threw four wild pitches in each of the last two seasons. He’s matched that total tonight in four innings.

Wei-Yin Chen retired 12 in a row before Martin singled with one out in the fifth. The last batter to reach was Alex Rodriguez, who was hit by a pitch in the first.

Brett Gardner followed Martin’s single with one of his own, the Yankees’ fourth hit of the night. Derek Jeter bounced out – Mark Reynolds made a nice lunging stop at third – and Nick Swisher flied to center, leaving Chen’s pitch count at 78.

Maybe we learned a little more about Chen, who didn’t buckle as the Yankees applied pressure.

Chen’s fastball has mostly been 90-92. He struck out Andruw Jones on a 3-2 changeup before Martin’s single. And he still hasn’t walked a batter.

Update: Robert Andino doubled leading off the fourth, took third on Endy Chavez’s sacrifice and scored on Garcia’s fifth wild pitch.

Yes, fifth.

Garcia allowed four runs (three earned) and four hits in 4 2/3 innings, with three walks, three strikeouts, one home run, one hit batter and five wild pitches. He threw 98 pitches, 52 for strikes.

The five wild pitches is tied for the fourth-most in one game since 1918. The last pitcher with five was the Phillies’ Ken Howell on April 5, 1989.