Orioles and Rays lineups

Orioles and Rays lineups
Jorge Mateo returns to the Orioles lineup for tonight's game against the Rays at Camden Yards. Mateo hasn't played since leaving Tuesday's game with discomfort in his lower back. He reached base twice on infield singles. Ramón Urías, who is 13-for-29 in his last eight games, starts again at shortstop. Mateo is playing second base. Austin Hays and Jahmai Jones are on the bench. DJ Stewart is in left field and Anthony Santander in right. Kelvin Gutiérrez is the third baseman. Trey...
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Game 128 lineups: Nats at Mets

Game 128 lineups: Nats at Mets
Friday night proved to be a fun, and arguably important, win for the Nationals, who got to see four inexperienced relievers thrive in a pressure situation and hang on to beat the Mets, 2-1. Tonight? Well, it might require a bit more offense to emerge victorious again. That's because Sean Nolin takes the mound for his third start for the Nats, his second against the Mets. The journeyman left-hander hasn't exactly dazzled since his promotion from Triple-A. He gave up four runs on eight hits in...
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Game 129: Nats at Mets

Game 129: Nats at Mets
Erick Fedde (6-8, 4.91 ERA) has already set a career high in victories, innings pitched and strikeouts this season. Now he'll try to get a little closer to .500 and cement himself as a rotation piece for the Nationals next season. The right-hander has gone 2-1 with a 3.52 ERA in his last three starts, winning his past two decisions after going 10 straight decisions without a victory. Fedde is still seeking his first career triumph over the Mets, after going 0-2 with a 4.29 ERA and 1.357 WHIP...
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Game 127 lineups: Nats at Mets

Game 127 lineups: Nats at Mets
If you go back about six weeks, back when the Nationals were still wondering if they'd be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline, one of the arguments supporting them to go for it was the Mets' schedule. New York, despite leading the National League East most of the season, was going to face an absolute gauntlet in mid-August, with 13 consecutive games against the Dodgers and Giants. If the Nats could just stay close until then, the thought went, they would have a chance to surpass them...
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Game 126 lineups: Nats at Marlins

Game 126 lineups: Nats at Marlins
After suffering through a stretch of six straight outings in which he yielded at least four runs in each start, left-hander Patrick Corbin (7-12, 5.82 ERA) turned in a gem on Aug. 20 at Milwaukee, holding the playoff-bound Brewers to a run on three hits over 6 1/3 innings to pick up his first victory since July 7. Now Corbin just has to do it again. An aggressive young Marlins team will be the latest test for the southpaw's improved fastball velocity, which allows him to set up his slider. In...
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Game 125 lineups: Nats at Marlins

Game 125 lineups: Nats at Marlins
Every Josiah Gray start has been an event since the young right-hander arrived in Washington earlier this month. Tonight's game in Miami, though, becomes an even bigger event because of the fellow young right-hander who will be facing Gray: Edward Cabrera. Cabrera, the Marlins' top pitching prospect, makes his major league debut. Which makes this a rare matchup between two pitchers who rank among the top 100 prospects in baseball. Cabrera has an electric arm, with a power sinker that reaches...
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Game 124 lineups: Nats at Marlins

Game 124 lineups: Nats at Marlins
After a run of games against contending clubs, the Nationals tonight open a three-game series against the club that currently occupies the basement of the National League East, right below them. The Marlins, like the Nats, are rebuilding, though in their case it feels more like a perpetual rebuild. But like the Nationals, the Marlins have some intriguing young players, especially on their pitching staff. And tonight we'll see one of them in Jesús Luzardo, the former Nats prospect who went...
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Game 123 lineups: Nats at Brewers

Game 123 lineups: Nats at Brewers
The Nationals' winning streak ended Saturday in Milwaukee, but they've still got a chance to win the weekend series if they can bounce back in this afternoon's finale. All things considered, that's not a bad position to be in. They're going to need to get some quality innings out of Sean Nolin, who gets the start as Joe Ross' replacement for now. Nolin, the 31-year-old journeyman left-hander, made one other start for the Nats 10 days ago in New York and gave up four runs on eight hits in...
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Orioles and Braves lineups (updated)

Orioles and Braves lineups (updated)
The Orioles will try to snap a 17-game losing streak this afternoon and avoid their 16th sweep of the season while closing out their series against the Braves. DJ Stewart, who's receiving treatment for a sore knee, is in left field today. Ramón Urías is the third baseman and Jorge Mateo is playing second base. Anthony Santander is in right field and batting cleanup. John Means is making his first career start against the Braves. His ERA is a season-high 3.44 after he allowed four earned...
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Game 122 lineups: Nats at Brewers

Game 122 lineups: Nats at Brewers
Can the Nationals make it four in a row? After last night's win over the Brewers, the Nats are now in the midst of their longest winning streak since July 18-20. Their last four-game winning streak came all the way back from June 27-30. Paolo Espino will take the mound in pursuit of that feat as he faces the team with which he made his major league debut. Espino is 3-4 with a 4.16 ERA on the season and 3-3 with a 4.53 ERA in 11 starts. His only appearance against his former team came in a...
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Game 121 lineups: Nats at Brewers

Game 121 lineups: Nats at Brewers
Fresh off a two-game sweep of the Blue Jays, the Nationals now embark on a nine-game road trip that kicks off with a tough challenge: a weekend series in Milwaukee. The Brewers have won eight of 10 and now hold a commanding 8 1/2-game lead in the National League Central. They're doing it with elite pitching, especially from an imposing threesome atop their rotation (Brandon Woodruff, Corbin Burnes, Freddy Peralta) that should give them a chance to beat anybody come October. (Sound...
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Game 120 lineups: Nats vs. Blue Jays

Game 120 lineups: Nats vs. Blue Jays
Unfortunately for the Nationals, Joe Ross' season-ending injury is another blow to an already depleted rotation, one that bears no resemblance to what the club expected to have at the beginning of the season. Fortunately, the two off-days this week surrounding this two-game set with the Blue Jays allow those who are available to pitch to do so on normal rest, not requiring manager Davey Martinez to do much shuffling. This afternoon we'll get another look at Josiah Gray, who has become a...
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Game 119 lineups: Nats vs. Blue Jays

Game 119 lineups: Nats vs. Blue Jays
After a string of games against the National League East's remaining contenders, the Nationals now take a break for a quick interleague series. They'll host the Blue Jays tonight and Wednesday afternoon (weather permitting), which means a little bit of a reunion. It was just a few weeks ago that Brad Hand was dealt to Toronto in exchange for Riley Adams. We don't know if we'll see Hand out of the Blue Jays bullpen tonight or not, but we will see Adams in the Nats lineup. The rookie catcher...
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Game 118 lineups: Nats vs. Braves (Thomas called up)

Game 118 lineups: Nats vs. Braves (Thomas called up)
Things are pretty bleak around Nationals Park these days. The home team has lost 11 of 12 and 29 of 39, and has fallen into a tie with the Marlins for last place in the National League East. Yes, this is the first step in a rebuilding project, and the club's record means a lot less now than it did three weeks ago. But that doesn't make this any easier to watch. Or, for those involved personally, to experience. But the Nationals have no choice but to press on, and today they'll try to snap...
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Game 117 lineups: Nats vs. Braves

Game 117 lineups: Nats vs. Braves
And we're back. If it feels like Friday night's game just ended, that's because it did. The Nationals and Braves find themselves in the unfortunate position of not only having just played a game that ended at 1:19 a.m. but having their next game scheduled to start at 6:05 p.m., an hour early to accommodate the planned postgame fireworks show. And, yes, it's important to remember that the fireworks remain planned for postgame tonight. In order for them to actually take place, this game will...
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Orioles lineup vs. Red Sox (updated)

Orioles lineup vs. Red Sox (updated)
The Orioles will try tonight to end an eight-game losing streak, their third this season, in the series opener against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. They've been swept 13 times. Cedric Mullins brings a 19-game hitting streak to Boston, the longest for the Orioles since Adam Jones hit in 20 straight in May 2012. Austin Hays is in right field tonight. He's hit safely in 10 consecutive games to start the month of August. DJ Stewart is the designated hitter. He homered twice yesterday and has three...
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Game 116 lineups: Nats vs. Braves

Game 116 lineups: Nats vs. Braves
The Nationals are back home again, having just suffered through a brutal 1-5 road trip to Atlanta and New York that included blown saves, rain delays, rainouts and other assorted calamities. All of that leaves this team in a prolonged funk unlike any they've experienced in a very long time. The Nats have lost 27 of their last 37 games. The only worse stretch in club history came near the end of the 2009 season, the last time this franchise lost 100 games. That's how bad things have...
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Game 115 lineups: Nats at Mets

Game 115 lineups: Nats at Mets
And we're back. Seven innings down, seven more to go before the Nationals can finally get out of New York and return home after a long week. Erick Fedde brings a 4-8 record and 5.15 ERA to his late-afternoon start. The last time Fedde faced the Mets, on June 18, he pitched seven scoreless innings of two-hit ball with six strikeouts to bring his season ERA to 3.33. Over the eight starts since, the right-hander is 0-4 with a 7.75 ERA. In two starts against the Mets this season, Fedde has only...
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Game 114 lineups: Nats at Mets (Nolin starting)

Game 114 lineups: Nats at Mets (Nolin starting)
It's been a weird week for the Nationals in New York leading up to this afternoon's series finale against the Mets. The coaching staff rejoined the team on Monday's off-day. Tuesday's game was suspended in the second inning. In Wednesday's resumption, the Nats blew a 4-1 lead, then went up 7-4 and blew that lead before finally losing 8-7. And then yesterday's regularly scheduled game had to be rescheduled as a part of an early doubleheader today. Let's hope everything goes smoothly for...
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Game 114 lineups: Nats at Mets

Game 114 lineups: Nats at Mets
Well, the opener of this evening's pseudo-doubleheader did not go as the Nationals would've hoped. Despite twice holding a three-run lead, they wound up losing to the Mets 8-7, done in by an inexperienced bullpen that is suddenly being asked to pitch high-leverage innings against a team still in the pennant race. They'll have to hope for a better result in the nightcap, a scheduled seven-inning game that is supposed to begin at 8 p.m. but is now being delayed because of another big storm...
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