“Home Chen” Continues Marlins Park Dominance

Wei-Yin Chen continues to dazzle at Marlins Park. The lefty pitched 5 ²⁄₃ innings of shutout, one-hit baseball in a 2-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. The Fish snapped a season-long 6-game losing streak.

• Luke Weaver: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K (88 pitches)
• Wei-Yin Chen: 5.2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K (91 pitches)

Through 5 ²⁄₃ innings, the only Cardinal to get a hit off of Chen was former Marlin Marcell Ozuna. He finished the night 3-for-4. Prior to the game, Ozuna spoke about how much he missed Miami. “They say they miss me, and I miss them too, but it’s a business,” Ozuna said. He got some cheers from the crowd when he took the field, especially from the left-field seats:

In the sixth innng, Chen allowed a walk, followed by a fielder’s choice. With 2 men already out in the inning, Mattingly pulled him from the game. Chen seemed less than pleased:

The offense was largely quiet, save for an early Brian Anderson single to score Derek Dietrich in the first inning, and a Starlin Castro home run to left field in the fourth.

The bullpen was able to carry the lead into the 9th, where a struggling Kyle Barraclough tried to shut the door on the Cardinals. Since winning the Reliever of the Month award back in June, he has converted only two out of six save opportunities, posting a 2.61 WHIP and .367 opponent batting average. Tonight, he started the 9th allowing two straight singles and a walk to load the bases. Don Mattingly immediately started warming up Javy Guerra. Barraclough recorded one out before walking home a run, and Guerra was called in to clean up the mess. On the very first batter he faced, Guerra was able to induce a double-play to end the game, and earn the Jose Fernandez MVP of the Game chain:

The Fish square off against the Cardinals again tomorrow at 7:10pm. Pablo Lopez and Miles Mikolas will take the mound for Miami and St. Louis, respectively.

Fangraphs

Kingfish: Wei-Yin Chen (.311 WPA)

Flounder: Kyle Barraclough (-.383 WPA)

Moment of the Game: Javy Guerra inducing a double-play to end the game.

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Home sweet home. That’s been Wei-Yin Chen’s motto all season. In fact, the numbers are so lopsided at Marlins Park for Chen, that Don Mattingly chose to switch Chen’s and Dan Straily’s spots in the rotation yesterday so Chen wouldn’t have to pitch on the road.

On the road, he is posting a laughable 10.27 ERA. At the friendly confines of Marlins Park, he has an elite 2.18 ERA. Chen’s home/road ERA difference is among the largest in baseball this year. Hopefully the legend of “Home Chen” continues tonight.

On the mound for the Cardinals will be Luke Weaver. Weaver comes in with a sub-par 4.75 ERA. He’s also coming off his shortest outing of the season, in which he gave up 2 runs in 2 ²⁄₃ IP.

Marcell Ozuna is making his first appearance in Marlins Park since being traded last December. When the Fish visited St. Louis back in June, Ozuna posted a solid 4-for-12 with 2 RBI.

Unfortunately for him, that stat line isn’t representative of his disappointing season. So far, he is only hitting .265/.310/.388.