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Chen seeks 13th win as O's battle Blue Jays

Aug 6, 2014 - 2:51 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - Wei-Yin Chen will try to become the newest member of the 13-win club when the AL East-leading Baltimore Orioles go for a series triumph over the Toronto Blue Jays Wednesday in the middle portion of a three-game series at Rogers Centre.

Chen is 12-3 with a 3.76 earned run average and has won each of his last five starts, posting a 2.53 ERA in that time. After tossing eight shutout innings in a win at Seattle on July 24, Chen followed that with 7 1/3 innings of one- run ball in a 2-1 triumph over the Mariners last Friday.

The left-hander struck out eight and walked one batter. He has issued just three walks in his last four starts. Chen is unbeaten (4-0) in his last six road starts and has a 6-1 mark in nine outings as the guest. He lost his only career start against the Blue Jays on Sept. 24, 2012 in a 9-5 setback, as he allowed five runs and nine hits in five innings.

Chen was a rookie when he faced Toronto and hopes more experience will help out in his favor. In 16 starts under the lights this season, Chen is 9-1 with a 3.31 ERA.

Baltimore posted a 9-3 win over the Jays on Tuesday and received home runs from Chris Davis, Caleb Joseph and Jonathan Schoop. Joseph has homered in three straight games, while Bud Norris picked up the win in the start and allowed two runs in 5 1/3 innings. Norris outdueled Toronto lefty Mark Buehrle, who allowed four runs on 10 hits with three walks over four innings.

"We caught him on a down night," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said of Buehrle.

Nick Markakis ended with two hits and has 426 multi-hit games in his career, matching Brady Anderson for fourth on the club's all-time list. Cal Ripken Jr. holds the club record with 845 multi-hit games, followed by Brooks Robinson (745), and Eddie Murray (596).

Baltimore leads the majors with 136 home runs -- one more than Toronto -- and has hit two or more home runs 41 times this season. The club is 31-10 when it homers more than once in a game.

The Orioles, who are 44-10 when scoring first, have won three in a row and 11 of their last 15 games and sit five games ahead of Toronto and six games in front of New York in the AL East. They have a 47-7 record when leading after the seventh inning and are 7-2 in the past nine road games.

Baltimore is 19-8 away from Camden Yards since May 31 and 34-23 on the road.

Toronto is mired in a four-game losing streak and had won six in a row and nine of 10 games before the slide.

Colby Rasmus hit a two-run homer and Jose Reyes finished with three hits in a losing cause. Reyes has reached base safely in 14 straight games since July 22 for the Jays, who have scored three runs or fewer in four straight games.

"We are a team of extremes," Toronto manager John Gibbons said. "We have to score runs for this team, no question about it. We have to score runs to win. We just got beat around today a little bit. We came in and they outplayed us."

The Blue Jays will also host Detroit on this homestand and had won three straight and seven of the previous nine games at Rogers Centre. They lost five in a row overall from July 3-7.

Drew Hutchison hopes to stop the bleeding when he takes the mound for the hosts tonight. He is 7-9 with a 4.62 ERA and only 2-5 in his past seven decisions. Hutchison lasted only three innings in last Thursday's 6-5 win at Houston and did not factor in the outcome, charged with four runs and six hits.

Hutchison, a right-hander, has allowed two runs or more (21 total) in each of his previous five trips to the mound and is only 2-5 in eight starts north of the border. In five career starts against Baltimore, he is 2-0 with a solid 1.16 ERA. Hutchison tossed seven scoreless innings in a 4-0 win against the Orioles back on June 13.

The O's are 6-5 against the Jays this season.