Wei Yin Chen

Orioles left-hander Wei-Yin Chen is likely heading to the 15-day disabled list with a right oblique strain. Chen, who abruptly left Sunday's 6-0 win over Minnesota after five shutout innings with pain in his right side, was re-evaluated Monday and the initial tests indicated that he will need to be shelved. An MRI was performed Monday morning and team doctors are expected to read it later today. “It sounds like he's a candidate for the 15-day disabled list,” Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette said.

The Baltimore sports scene is blessed with a bunch of talented bloggers who bring their unique perspective to the conversation. Each week, I hope to chat with one of them in a regular feature called Blogger on Blogger. This week, I exchanged emails with Amanda Redman, who blogs about the Orioles for the Birds Watcher blog . MV: The Orioles entered Monday night's AL East showdown with the New York Yankees with five straight losses, all at home. I know there is still a long way and many, many games between now and late September, but are you concerned that these Orioles might be finally falling back to Earth?

Wei-Yin Chen probably would have completed seven innings on Tuesday night if it hadn't been for a 48-minute rain delay that ended his night with one out (and one on) in the seventh. He pitched well enough to get a win - nine  hits, no walks two earned runs in 6 1/3 innings - but Alex Gordon's two-run homer against Brian Matusz tied the game at 3-3 in the seventh. Perhaps more important than the personal 'W' is that Chen (3.40 ERA) bounced back from a rough outing on Wednesday in Seattle in which he gave up five earned runs in four innings.

If you believe that the Orioles' unexpected run to the postseason in 2012 was something of magic, then the most dazzling trick the organization pulled off was consistently pulling productive starters out of their sleeves. Executive vice president Dan Duquette, who had been out of baseball for a decade, stockpiled pitchers in his first offseason with the Orioles, adding to the group of now-not-so-young arms compiled by his processor, Andy MacPhail, then practically running a shuttle that shuffled players from Norfolk and Bowie to Camden Yards.

Rookie left-hander Wei-Yin Chen  had just finished speaking with reporters following the Orioles' 4-0 win over Tampa Bay on Saturday night when MASN analyst Mike Bordick strolled by to congratulate the Taiwanese pitcher on a job well done. “Que paso,'” Chen responded - in Spanish - which turned everyone's head in the hallway toward a smiling Chen. Yes, the 27-year-old rookie has made a seamless adjustment to the big leagues. He gave one of his best outings of the season Saturday, throwing seven shutout innings and holding the Rays to five hits for his team-high 10th win of the season.

In an attempt to keep their most consistent pitcher fresh for the stretch run, the Orioles have pushed back rookie lefty  Wei-Yin Chen's next start. With Thursday's day off, Chen, who beat the Tigers in Detroit on Sunday, could have pitched with an extra day's rest this Saturday. Instead, he'll pitch Monday at home against the Chicago White Sox. Rookie right-hander Miguel Gonzalez will be also pushed back and pitch Tuesday, as a way to limit his innings. Lefty Zach Britton will start Friday's series opener against the Toronto Blue Jays and right-hander Chris Tillman will pitch Sunday.

SARASOTA, Fla. - For the second time this spring, Orioles left-hander Wei-Yin Chen went to the team's minor league complex at Twin Lakes Park on Monday's off day to build his innings and work on his pitches. Chen has made just two Grapefruit League starts this spring, partially because Orioles manager Buck Showalter wants to avoid pitching him against American League East competition in big league games. On Monday, he pitched five innings against a Rays Class-A team with no worry that major league hitters could see him there.

SARASOTA, Fla. -- Making his first Grapefruit League start in more than two weeks, Orioles left-hander Wei-Yin Chen allowed seven runs - six earned - in 3 1/3 innings in the Orioles' 13-4 loss to the Phillies Saturday afternoon at Ed Smith Stadium. Chen couldn't escape a five-run fourth inning that included Phillies second baseman Chase Utley's second homer of the afternoon, a three-run shot to left field that ended up being the final hitter Chen faced. Utley also homered three batters into the game, hitting a two-run shot to left off Chen.

In his second outing of the spring, Orioles lefty Wei-Yin Chen struggled occasionally with his command Friday night, but overall he continued his progression for the regular season. Starting in a 6-3 Grapefruit League win over the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chen allowed one hit and two walks in 2 1/3 innings. He gave up two runs (one earned) and struck out four. He threw 54 pitches, 33 strikes, hitting between 89 and 91 mph on his fastball, 73 to 75 on his curve and 79 to 82 on his slider - just slightly below his in-season marks.

OAKLAND, Calif. - The majority of Wei-Yin Chen's Orioles career has been watching his team's offense take a breather whenever he pitches. The lack of offensive support has been well-documented - in 20 of his last 29 starts the Orioles scored three runs or fewer while he has been in the game. On Friday night, Chen didn't leave things to chance in a 3-0 Orioles' victory over the Oakland A's. OK, so he did leave the ninth to closer Jim Johnson, who picked up his ninth save of the season.

Less than two weeks ago, the Orioles were tied for first place in the American League East. Despite subpar starting pitching, they were winning games -- more than 60 percent of them -- because Manny Machado, Adam Jones and Chris Davis were pounding the ball and the Baltimore bullpen continued to be a stabilizing force. The top-heavy offense is still producing -- the Orioles scored 17 runs over the weekend -- but with the rotation being held together with bandages and Scotch tape, closer Jim Johnson having blown back-to-back save opportunities, and seemingly every bounce going the other way right now , the 23-20 Orioles are free-falling.

Orioles left-hander Wei-Yin Chen leaves Baltimore on Tuesday for the club's minor league complex in Sarasota, Fla., but how long he'll be there is unknown. “I just want to go down there and prepare early and rehab early so I can get everything [done] down there,” Chen said through interpreter Tim Lin. “And just hope everything will be fine moving forward.” Chen suffered a Grade 2 strain of his right oblique in the fifth inning of his last start, May 12 in Minnesota. He is eligible to come off the disabled list on May 28, but that certainly won't happen.

The Orioles again proved Friday night that there are few deficits out of their reach, injecting late-inning suspense into a game that appeared to be a blowout. After trailing by eight runs in the eighth inning, they brought the tying run to the plate, falling just short in a 12-10 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. But the concern in Birdland these days isn't about the offense, but a starting rotation that is struggling at a critical time of the season. Right-hander Jason Hammel, the club's Opening Day starter, has often played the role of stopper when the Orioles have needed innings.

Frankly, Jason Hammel has been playing with fire all season. The Orioles' Opening Day starter hasn't been crisp - honest-to-goodness smooth and effortless like in early 2012 - at all in nine starts. Sure, he beat the Tampa Bay Rays on Opening Day in a quality start (three runs in six innings) and then beat himself up afterward for not having good command. Then there were his six innings without an earned run against Oakland on April 25 in which he threw only 59 of his 104 pitches for strikes, but got away with a lot of mistakes.

The San Diego Padres might be better than their sub-.500 record indicates, but losing two games to them over a span of 18 hours this week has to be a bitter pill for the Orioles to swallow. Following today's off day, the Orioles will play 17 games in 17 days, opening with 10 straight against American League East teams. So as much as the recent injuries to the starting rotation didn't impact the Orioles dramatically because of three off days in an 11-day span, they now have some holes to fill.

So closer Jim Johnson finally blew a save in the regular season . How long has it been? The last time he blew one Manny Machado and Nate McLouth weren't Orioles. You've got to go all the way  back to July 27, 2012 - not counting the one Game 3 of the ALDS - for a blown save by JJ. Here's a silver lining for you: Even when Johnson blows one, it's rarely ugly. He gave up four singles that were beat into the ground on Tuesday. It's not like they got a lot of lift off a guy who has made his living getting grounders.

Wei-Yin Chen didn't come to the Orioles with the reputation of being a strikeout pitcher, but after Sunday afternoon's record-breaking performance, perhaps that may begin to change. The 27-year-old lefty from Taiwan has often deflected attention during his rookie season, repeatedly saying through his interpreter that he's more concerned with team wins than individual stats. In the top of the sixth inning of the Orioles' 6-1 win over the Oakland Athletics on Sunday, the announced crowd of 19,698 at Camden Yards was giving Chen a standing ovation after he fanned Josh Reddick for his 12th strikeout of the game.

When the Orioles signed left-hander Wei-Yin Chen, 10 days into 2012, they did so because they believed the 27-year-old had displayed unflappability in big games. He represented his native Taiwan in the Olympics four years ago. He overcame all the obstacles of pitching in a different country, shining for four seasons in Japan with the Chunichi Dragons. When Chen won his 12th game of the season Aug. 19 in Detroit, he became the first Orioles' pitcher to record that many wins since 2007.

If you've watched Orioles right-hander Freddy Garcia through the last few years, you know he doesn't have a lot of margin for error. He's around the plate a lot - and he doesn't throw hard. So when he gets hit, he really can get hit. The San Diego Padres, who cut Garcia this spring, really hit him Wednesday . In the first inning, Garcia did what he's made a career out of doing: getting out of jams. He had runners at first and second and one out and he induced an inning-ending double play.

Each Wednesday, blogger Matt Vensel will highlight five statistics that really mean something for the Orioles. five -- consecutive quality starts for Chris Tillman. Right-hander Chris Tillman pitched seven strong innings Tuesday night, allowing four hits and one earned run to give the Orioles his fifth straight quality start (closer Jim Johnson could not secure the win for him, though). Over Tillman's past five starts, he has a 1.87 ERA and opponents are batting .195 against him. He recorded three wins and the Orioles won four of those five games.