Wei-Yin Chen gets 1st hit after 0-for-51 start

Miami Marlins starting pitcher Wei-Yin Chen throws during the first inning of the team's baseball game against the New York Mets on Friday, April 7, 2017, in New York. (Frank Franklin II/AP)

NEW YORK — Miami Marlins pitcher Wei-Yin Chen got his first major league hit after an 0-for-51 start at the plate.

Chen hit a slow, four-hopper that Mets shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera picked up without a throw in the fourth inning Friday night.

After crossing first base, Chen stuck out his tongue. The Marlins saved the ball for him.

The ball came off the bat at 65 mph, according to Major League Baseball’s Statcast. The hit came against Zack Wheeler, who returned from Tommy John surgery to make his first major league appearance since September 2014.

Chen had the longest hitless streak at the start of a big league career since Jon Lester’s 0-for-66 slide and the fourth-longest since 1900, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. He also trailed Joey Hamilton (0 for 57) and Ron Herbel (0 for 55).

Chen not reached base in all 57 of his previous big league plate appearances.

"Fifty at-bats is a lot of at-bats," Marlins manager Don Mattingly said before the game. "You’d think somehow, some way — and he had a few of them that were really close."

Chen had just six at-bats in his first four big league seasons with Baltimore, then signed an $80 million, five-year contract with the Marlins before the 2016 season.

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