Detwiler back with a bang (Nationals lose 2-1)

Remember what Ross Detwiler looked like for the first month of the season? If you're watching today's game, you sure do. Making his first start in nearly a month, Detwiler has found his old form. He's thrown five shutout innings, allowing just four hits and striking out three. Detwiler did get into some trouble a few times this afternoon, loading the bases in the fourth and allowing runners to reach second and third in the fifth. But both times he got a fly ball out to end the inning, keep the Orioles scoreless and hold the Nationals' lead at 1-0. With Detwiler at 82 pitches through five (by far his heaviest workload in a month), he's almost certainly done for the day. Chien-Ming Wang was throwing in the bullpen as early as the fourth inning, but he's now sat down. Craig Stammen is throwing in the 'pen as I type. Wang was scheduled to get in a lot of work in the bullpen today regardless of whether he came into the game or not. Davey Johnson wants to keep him stretched out. In a 1-0 game, it will likely be Stammen to come in to relieve Detwiler. Washington's run came across on a Ryan Zimmerman RBI single in the third. It was the first hard-hit base knock in quite a while for Zimmerman, and it had to feel good. Today's start had to feel good for Detwiler, as well. He made a bit of a statement today in his return to the starting rotation. Update: Stammen is in to pitch the sixth. Update II: Stammen delivered two scoreless innings, pitching out of a jam in the seventh to leave runners at second and third. The Nats bullpen now aligns perfectly, with Sean Burnett coming on for the eighth and Tyler Clippard on call for the ninth. Either the Nationals' pitchers have done an excellent job of working out of trouble today, or the Orioles really stink in clutch spots. The Birds are now 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position today. Update III: This was bound to happen eventually. Burnett and Clippard have been nearly unhittable the last few weeks. Today, Burnett gave up the lead just two batters into the eighth inning. He allowed a leadoff single to Adam Jones, and Matt Wieters demolished an 0-1 pitch to left-center for a two-run homer. Camden Yards went bonkers as the ball came down in the Orioles bullpen. The Nationals' lead is now gone, and for the first time in a long time, the bullpen has blown a lead in the late innings. Update IV: That's the ballgame. The Orioles beat the Nationals 2-1, and they earn the series win. Wieters gets it done offensively and defensively, as a strike-'em-out, throw-'em-out double play ended things for the Nats in the ninth. Baltimore wins four of the six games in the Battle of the Beltways this season.