CINCINNATI _ The saga of Wei-Yin Chen has been an unpleasant one for the Marlins, who invested big on the veteran lefty _ a whopping $80 million _ believing him to be a steady rotation fixture for years to come.
Needless to say, Chen has fallen far short of expectations, and Friday's outing provided another reminder of a signing gone bad when he was tagged for back-to-back home runs in the first inning and was done after four in the Marlins' 4-1 loss to the Reds, the team with the worst record in the majors.
The Marlins were hoping for better, especially after Chen turned in an otherwise solid outing in his first start back from the disabled list, where he has spent a good chunk of his Marlins career while collecting all that money.
But Friday, in what was his second start since returning from the DL, Chen was once again unsteady, serving up a pair of home runs in the first and walking four batters overall in the loss.
The Reds scored all four of their runs in the first and needed no more, as the offensive-challenged Marlins were held to a Lewis Brinson solo home run and nothing else. They had the bases loaded with one out in the sixth, a chance to wipe out the deficit, but came up empty when both Brian Anderson and Martin Prado were retired on fly balls.
For Chen, the first inning was his undoing. He gave up a leadoff double to Jose Peraza, followed by a walk to Alex Blandino. After he caught Joey Votto on a borderline pitch, he gave up a three-run shot to Eugenio Suarez, followed immediately by a solo homer by Adam Duvall.
And that was it. Chen worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the third and left two aboard in the fourth before manager Don Mattingly decided he had seen enough to lifted him for a pinch-hitter.
