Wei-Yin Chen finished spring training with a 9.37 ERA over five appearances. And his regular-season debut in his new bullpen role didn’t go well either.
The Marlins’ 33-year-old left-hander allowed both batters he faced to reach base in the ninth inning of Sunday’s 3-0 win over the Rockies. Chen opened the inning to face two lefties – Charlie Blackmon and David Dahl — and Blackmon doubled and Dahl walked before Sergio Romo entered and recorded the save.
Still, Marlins manager Don Mattingly is confident in Chen.
“I think Wei-Yin will be fine,” Mattingly said. “We’ll talk with him and make sure he’s OK.