Bud Norris, Caleb Joseph and Manny Machado comment after O's loss to Washington

Bud Norris was trying to find the form he had before he went on the disabled list tonight. But it never quite came around for him as he gave up five runs in four-plus innings in a 6-2 loss to Washington. "Couple of weeks off like that, yes, definitely was different," Norris said. "But I just wanted to go out there and compete. That is a good team over there. With all the 1-2, 0-2 mistakes I made, they hit them. "I have to get a little bit finer and make those corrections. But it was good to get out there and pitch. Want to help this team." It was Norris' first start since June 21 after a disabled list stint due to a right groin strain. "I felt pretty good. Got a little achy there at the end. But I'm happy with the results and it's kind of out of my head now," he said. "Get a couple more bullpens in and just go from there into the break and feel good going into the second half." Norris had given up just one homer over his last three starts and more than one in just two starts before he gave up two tonight. "They put some good swings on it," he said. "I didn't make necessarily my pitch there in those situations and the ball kind of creeped up on me there to thigh line rather than knee line. Could have been a little rusty, but you always have to pitch in the bottom half of the zone." Both before and after the game, manager Buck Showalter indicated it's a possibility that Norris gets a start Sunday on three days rest. How would Norris feel about that? "That is something we have to sit down and talk about. I am just really going to see how I feel tomorrow and go from there," Norris said. When Norris allowed three runs in the first two innings tonight, that was one more run than he had given up over his past three starts over 19 2/3 innings. He is now 1-2 with a 5.87 ERA in three interleague starts on the year. "His stuff was good," catcher Caleb Joseph said. "Came out really nice in the bullpen. Just had some location issues. He looked good stuff-wise and the velocity was there, but got a few balls up in the zone. Seemed every one that was up, they hit hard." Joseph's hard-hit shot to third base with two men on in the sixth was turned into a double play by Nats third baseman Anthony Rendon as the O's got just two runs in seven innings off Doug Fister. "He was pretty good. Sinks the ball well and has that curveball," Joseph said. "Didn't bust it out until the second or third time around. Got a good enough slider to get us off the barrel. We couldn't get anything going and they were on tonight. They were swinging the bats really well." Speaking of swinging it well, Manny Machado added three more hits tonight, including a solo homer. He is 8-for-10 the past two games and 12-for-21 the past four games. Machado is batting .312 in 31 games since June 1. "Feel fine at the plate," Machado said. "Seeing the ball well. Going to try and keep this going. Just try to finally get in a groove. Just about being patient and seeing the ball. Everything is finally falling into place and finding some holes. "Just trying to make some good contact. Not trying to hit any homers. Just trying to simplify things. Got to keep swinging it and everything will fall into place." Machado is also feeling pretty good about his defense recently at third base. "Oh definitely. I feel great defensively. Just have to keep grinding and stay focused," he said.