PHILADELPHIA – For the first time in a week, the Nationals hit a ball out of the park. Two of them, as a matter of fact. It was a welcome sight for a power-starved, run-starved lineup. Then again, it doesn’t matter much when those two long-awaited home runs proved to be your only hits of the day until the eighth inning. Even more so when your pitch

Gunnar Henderson has got the routine down to where he could perform it in his sleep. But it makes more sense at the ballpark. The loud contact leading off the first inning. Touching the bill of his helmet as he approaches second base and looks at the bullpen. The hop after stepping on home plate and slapping of hands above his head. The crouching l

The Orioles offense broke out Friday in a 9-2 win over Seattle. But after taking an early 2-0 lead last night, the Orioles scored just one more run and lost to the Mariners 4-3. That sets up these teams for a rubber match today to end this series and homestand. The Orioles are 3-2 in rubber match games and Seattle is 5-3. The Orioles are 28-15 over

PHILADELPHIA – A Nationals lineup struggling mightily to score runs right now will gladly take back any semi-productive hitter it can get. So the return of Luis García Jr. today after a two-day absence – even if only for DH duties – was welcome news for Davey Martinez. “He’s going to DH; I’m trying to make it a little lighter,” the manager said. “B

Anthony Santander can hit if he’s sent to the plate. His swollen and bruised left knee can handle it. But playing the outfield is on hold. Santander is receiving treatment on the knee after he slammed it into the right field wall in the third inning Wednesday afternoon while chasing Bo Bichette’s fly ball that deflected off his glove and resulted i

Adley Rutschman gets a rare day off this afternoon as the Orioles conclude their series against the Mariners at Camden Yards. They also have reached the end of their three-opponent homestand. Ryan O’Hearn is the designated hitter. Colton Cowser is in right field while Anthony Santander receives treatment on a bruised left knee. Austin Hays stays in

PHILADELPHIA – A difficult road trip comes to an end this afternoon for the Nationals, who lost two of three in Boston, then two of three in Chicago and now have to win today just to avoid getting swept by the Phillies. The crazy part of it all: They’ve lost five of these six games by either one or two runs. The combined score on this road trip is

For Orioles outfielder Austin Hays, it was a familiar ballpark, just one he had not seen in person for quite awhile. From May 7-12, and a few days before that in practice, Hays spent time with the Double-A Bowie Baysox on his injury rehab assignment. From 2017 through 2019, Hays, on his way up in the Baltimore farm system, spent time with Bowie. On

The lineup card is kept in Brandon Hyde’s office, commemorating his first win as a major league manager back on March 30, 2019 in the Bronx. Only his second game after being put in charge of guiding the team through a rebuild. Hyde takes the occasional glance and can smile and cringe within seconds. He developed an unbreakable bond with those playe

The three weeks that passed since Grayson Rodriguez’s last start probably made today’s delay more tolerable. He had to wait almost three hours, the threat of rain more impactful than actual precipitation. But he was back in the rotation, short leash and all. The only radar that interested him was clocking his fastball. Rodriguez didn’t allow a hit