SAN DIEGO – Jack Flaherty recorded the last out in the first inning tonight, glanced twice at plate umpire Laz Diaz on his way to the dugout and didn’t break stride. Diaz didn’t check Flaherty’s hands for a sticky substance until the Orioles were done batting in the top of the second. After Gary Sánchez hit a grand slam as part of a five-run outbur

The way things have been going around here lately, it was perfectly fair for anyone inside the Nationals dugout – or anywhere inside Nationals Park, for that matter – to reach the bottom of the ninth tonight and just assume the home team was going to rally once again and pull off another walk-off win. So when it didn’t happen and the Red Sox were t

Having allowed just four runs in the past three games, the Orioles have a three-game win streak on their West Coast road trip. The trip began with a 9-2 loss Friday at Seattle, but they have since won 1-0 and 5-3 over the Mariners, both in 10 innings, and by 4-1 last night at San Diego. The Orioles (74-45) are a season-high 29 games over the .500 m

SAN DIEG0 - Orioles outfielder Aaron Hicks returned to the club yesterday after injuring his left hamstring, started in left and exited in the eighth inning with discomfort in his back. Hicks singled twice but didn’t appear to be running at full speed. Austin Hays replaced Hicks last night and is starting in left tonight. “He feels better today,” s

SAN DIEGO – Aaron Hicks is out of the Orioles lineup tonight after returning from the injured list yesterday and collecting two singles. Austin Hays replaced Hicks in left field in the eighth inning, and he’s batting seventh tonight. Ryan O’Hearn hit his 10th home run last night and stays in the cleanup spot. Ryan Mountcastle is the designated hitt

Hunter Harvey believes he could’ve returned from his elbow strain at least a week ago, maybe sooner than that. Given the right-hander’s lengthy injury history, the Nationals weren’t about to rush him back from the 15-day injured list. But once they saw him throwing 97-99 mph against live hitters over the weekend, there wasn’t much reason to wait an

It’s been a good stretch for the Nationals over the last several weeks, as we’ve outlined here. Now, can they keep it up against some postseason contenders? We’re about to find out with a run of series against the Red Sox, Phillies, Yankees, Marlins and Blue Jays. It begins tonight against Boston, which enters play three games back in the American

The Nationals, you may have heard, are playing winning baseball right now. After a weekend sweep of the Athletics, they improved to 15-8 since July 21. They’re 19-12 since July 8, which is the best record in the National League East during that time, third-best in the NL. Something clearly has to be going right for this team that wasn’t going right

Getting to play pro baseball has always been important to the Orioles Ryan Mountcastle. Even long before they drafted him No. 36 overall in the 2015 MLB Draft out of Paul J. Haggerty High School in Florida. Back then he had designs on being a big league player and that dream came true for him for the first time in August of 2020. But Mountcastle’s

SAN DIEGO – Manny Machado dug in against Orioles closer Félix Bautista last night with two Padres on base and one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, back-to-back walks allowing him to represent the potential tying run. Machado took a 101.2 mph fastball out of the strike zone, missed a 100.4 mph fastball, offered at a splitter and grounded it to