Before the Orioles played their 117^th game of the season tonight, they switched up the usual routine at home by gathering in the dugout to watch the latest Hall of Fame inductions. They stood at the railing, eyes locked on former center fielder Adam Jones as he addressed the crowd and tried to control his emotions.

"I took tremendous pride playing for you guys,” he said. “I took tremendous pride playing more for the name on the front of the chest than the name on the back."

Jones turned to the bench and reminded a team going through hard times that he was there, too, early in his career and to keep grinding.

“Trust me,” he said, “you do it long enough, you’ll be where I’m at.”

Rookie Brandon Young went to the mound and began warming for his 10^th major league start, walked the first batter he faced and surrendered a long home run to Shea Langeliers.

SAN FRANCISCO – James Wood set the tone with a desperately needed leadoff homer. Paul DeJong and Josh Bell added on with a pair of homers themselves to extend the lead. Brad Lord and the new-look back end of the bullpen then took care of the rest, pitching the Nationals to their first truly conventional win since the trade deadline.

Behind three early solo homers, headlined by Wood’s first blast in a month, the Nats toppled the Giants 4-2 this afternoon, getting another strong start by Lord and a gutsy, five-out save from new closer Jose A. Ferrer.

The Nationals’ only other win since the July 31 deadline was a 2-1 walk-off victory over the Athletics. This one came via a more normal path, with early offense and a quality start putting them in position entering the late innings. But it still required nine outs from a completely remade bullpen, and we finally saw today what exactly that now looks like.

It included left-hander Konnor Pilkington retiring the side in the bottom of the seventh. It included Cole Henry getting the bottom of the eighth but getting pulled after loading the bases with one out. And so it concluded with Jose A. Ferrer recording a five-out save, escaping the eighth-inning jam with only one inherited runner crossing the plate before escaping a two-on jam in the ninth thanks to a game-ending double play off the bat of Patrick Bailey.

"I'm really excited about this opportunity," Ferrer, who earned his first save since assuming the closer's job following Kyle Finnegan's trade to Detroit, said via interpreter Mauricio Ortiz. "I just want to thank them for putting me in this position, to be closer of the team. It's a huge responsibility, because you come in to close the game. Your teammates played really hard the whole game. You just want to come out, get those three outs and take the win."

Six players from the Orioles’ 2025 draft class are reporting next week to Class A Delmarva for their professional debuts, including the first two selections, according to a source.

Catcher/outfielder Ike Irish and catcher Caden Bodine, the 19^th and 30^th overall picks, respectively, are joined by shortstop Wehiwa Aloy (31^st), center fielder RJ Austin (93^rd), shortstop Colin Yeaman (124^th) and second baseman Brayden Smith (394^th).

Irish was chosen out of Auburn, Bodine out of Coastal Carolina, Aloy out of Arkansas, Austin from Vanderbilt, Yeaman from UC Irvine and Smith from Oklahoma State.

The drafted players who signed have been working out in Sarasota.

On the major league side, the Orioles didn’t make any roster moves today and didn’t have any updates on injured players.

SAN FRANCISCO – Luis García Jr. is out of the Nationals’ lineup for the second straight day, but the team appears to be confident his back injury won’t linger for long.

García was scratched from the lineup for Friday night’s series opener against the Giants when he experienced back tightness during batting practice. Interim manager Miguel Cairo said at the time he would also sit his starting second baseman for this afternoon’s game, given the quick turnaround to a 1:05 p.m. first pitch.

García has since undergone an MRI on his back, the results of which were encouraging.

“He went and did an MRI this morning, and everything is negative, so he’s fine,” Cairo said. “Maybe it just tightened up. We did the MRI just to make sure everything was fine, so that’s good news.”

Cairo had José Tena start in García’s place Friday night; the 24-year-old went 0-for-3 with a strikeout and grounded into a force out at the plate with the bases loaded. Veteran Paul DeJong gets the nod today and will bat third against San Francisco left-hander Carson Whisenhunt.

Coby Mayo stays at first base tonight and Ryan Mountcastle remains the designated hitter, as the Orioles try for their third win in a row.

Mayo has a .460 slugging percentage at home this season.

Jeremiah Jackson is in right field, Dylan Carlson is in left and Greg Allen is in center.

Brandon Young is making his 10^th major league start after registering a 5.88 ERA and 1.669 WHIP in 41 1/3 innings. He’s allowed two earned runs and four total in 10 2/3 innings in his last two starts.

Athletics right-hander Jack Perkins is making his second start among 10 appearances in his rookie season. He’s recorded three saves.

SAN FRANCISCO – It’s a beautiful day by the bay. Will it be beautiful for a Nationals lineup that has been ice-cold at the plate?

The Nats have been shut out in back-to-back games, and even when you add Wednesday’s win over the Athletics to the mix, they’ve still scored only two runs on 11 hits and two walks over their last 27 innings. That simply won’t cut it. And now they face a quick turnaround to a day game against an opposing left-hander. That’s pretty much been a recipe for disaster this season: The team OPS in day games against lefties: .563, tied with the Rangers for worst in the majors. (Against righties, it at least goes up to .676.)

Today’s lineup is once again missing Luis García Jr., whose back tightened up Friday during batting practice. Hopefully we’ll get an update on his status shortly. It’ll be up to the rest of the group – most notably James Wood and CJ Abrams – to get something going against the Giants’ Carson Whisenhunt, a 24-year-old making his third career start.

Brad Lord gets the ball for the Nationals, looking to continue what he’s done since rejoining the rotation. In three starts, the rookie right-hander has a 3.21 ERA, issuing only three walks over 14 innings. And after throwing 92 pitches last time out, he should be good to reach the 100 mark if needed today, meaning he’s fully stretched out as a starter now.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
Where: Oracle Park
Gametime: 4:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Mostly sunny, 69 degrees, wind 12 mph out to center field

Joe Orsulak wasn’t the biggest name on the Orioles. He wasn’t flashy and he didn’t put up gaudy numbers. But he could hit and throw and was comfortable flying under the radar.

Now comes his chance to soar with his selection to the Orioles Hall of Fame.

The induction ceremony will be held tonight at Camden Yards, where Orsulak joins center fielder Adam Jones and broadcaster Tom Davis.  

“It feels great,” he said yesterday. “Like one of my friends was telling me, you’re in the same Hall of Fame with that. It doesn’t matter if you’re the top dog or the bottom dog. You’re still in the Orioles Hall of Fame. We’re in the Hall of Fame. And that’s an honor for me.”

Orsulak led the Orioles in batting average in 1988, 1989 and 1992 and was second behind Cal Ripken Jr. in 1991, but he’s probably remembered more for his defense. Orsulak led the majors and set the franchise record with 22 outfield assists in 1991 and committed only one error in 132 games.

SAN FRANCISCO – They tried a new look atop the lineup, flip-flopping James Wood and CJ Abrams and giving Brady House the first opportunity of his career to bat in a prominent position. Anything in an attempt to shake things up and bring some life back to a lifeless Nationals lineup.

Alas, the end result looked very much like the results of previous games when Abrams batted ahead of Wood and House batted down in the order.

At some point, it’s not about the order of the lineup, it’s about the production (or lack thereof) of the guys who are in the lineup. And there once again was very little production tonight during a 5-0 loss to the Giants.

Shut out for the second straight day, the Nationals brought their offensive woes with them from the East Coast to the West Coast. They couldn’t score off Athletics left-hander Jacob Lopez on Thursday afternoon at Nationals Park. And they couldn’t score off Giants opener Matt Gage or bulk reliever Kai-Wei Teng tonight at Oracle Park.

Even in victory Wednesday night, the Nats scored only twice (one of them Abrams’ walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth). Ergo, they’ve now totaled two runs on 11 hits over their last 27 innings of baseball. Perhaps even more jarring than that, they’ve drawn only two walks during that same prolonged time frame.

SAN FRANCISCO – Tonight isn’t the first time James Wood has hit leadoff for the Nationals. It’s actually the eighth time this season.

But in each of the previous seven instances, it was just as much about who wasn’t playing that night (CJ Abrams) as it was about Wood himself. That makes Miguel Cairo’s lineup for tonight’s series opener against the Giants different, because both of his young top-of-the-order players are starting. They’re just swapping places in the batting order.

Wood, who has been mired in the first extended slump of his career, will come up to bat first at Oracle Park. Abrams, who has also cooled off after a strong first half but not to the same extent, will bat behind him in the 2 spot.

“I just told myself I’m going to do something different,” Cairo said. “I want to give Woody a little more, hitting at the top, maybe he see a few more fastballs. He’s going to get maybe another at-bat (in the ninth inning). I just want to change things a little bit around.”

Wood’s slump has now surpassed the 100-plate-appearance mark. Over his last 24 games, he’s batting .122 with one homer, four RBIs, 10 walks and 41 strikeouts. That prolonged slide has dropped his OPS from .958 on July 3 to .840 entering tonight’s game.

The clubhouse that Ryan Mountcastle walked into earlier today isn’t the same anymore. Many of his teammates are gone. No one is talking about a playoff run. He came back from his injury rehab assignment and entered a new world.

The old power returned.

Mountcastle followed Adley Rutschman’s two-run homer in the first inning with a 433-foot shot to center field, and the Orioles began their homestand with a 3-2 victory over the Athletics before an announced crowd of 20,796 at Camden Yards.

Tomoyuki Sugano completed seven innings for the fifth time this season and first since June 3 in Seattle, and the Orioles improved to 53-63. They won for the first time when held to three hits or fewer and have won twice under those circumstances in the past two seasons. 

“It feels like we stole one," said interim manager Tony Mansolino. "I think you guys probably feel the same, the way that thing was kind of going."

The Orioles have made the following roster moves:

• INF Ryan Mountcastle (right hamstring strain) was returned from his rehab assignment and reinstated from the 60-day Injured List.
• Recalled OF Jordyn Adams from Triple-A Norfolk.
• Placed OF Colton Cowser on the 7-day concussion Injured List, retroactive to August 7.
• Placed OF Tyler O'Neill (right wrist inflammation) on the 10-day Injured List, retroactive to August 6.

The Orioles’ 40-man roster currently has 39 players.

The Orioles today announced that they have signed outfielder GREG ALLEN to a one-year major league contract for the 2025 season. He will wear No. 25.

Allen, 32, batted .270/.355/.440 (54-for-200) with 14 doubles, one triple, six home runs, 31 runs scored, 32 RBI, and 11 stolen bases in 61 games with Triple-A Iowa of the Chicago Cubs organization earlier this season. He was released on August 4. The switch-hitter has played 304 career games with the New York Yankees (2021, 2023), Pittsburgh Pirates (2022), San Diego Padres (2020), and Cleveland Guardians (2017-2020) while appearing in 139 games in center field, 119 in left field, and 56 in right field. He’s 48-of-57 (84.2%) in stolen base attempts in his MLB career. The former sixth round selection by Cleveland in the 2014 First-Year Player Draft attended San Diego State University (CA), playing three seasons for the late National Baseball Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn.

The Orioles’ 40-man roster currently has 38 players.

The Orioles have made the following roster move:

• INF/OF Vidal Bruján claimed off outright waivers by the Atlanta Braves.

The Orioles’ 40-man roster currently has 37 players.

SAN FRANCISCO – Hello from beautiful Oracle Park on the shores of McCovey Cove. The Nationals may be playing bad baseball these days, but at least they’ll be spending the next three days playing in a gorgeous ballpark. And maybe the cool Bay breeze will inspire them to play better this weekend against a Giants club that isn’t exactly on fire, either.

After a fantastic start to the season, San Francisco has collapsed this summer. Owners of a 40-28 record on June 11, the team has gone 18-29 since and found itself trading away several big-name players at last week’s deadline. The Giants have picked things up a bit since, going 4-2 in New York and Pittsburgh, but their postseason hopes have probably disappeared.

A Nationals lineup that was shut out Thursday by Athletics left-hander Jacob Lopez will face another lefty tonight in Matt Gage. The difference: Gage is merely an opener, likely to throw only an inning or two before handing it over to another pitcher. So we’ll see if the top of the Nats lineup can get something going early and set a more positive tone for the evening.

Jake Irvin takes the mound looking for a bounceback performance of his own. The 27-year-old had another ragged first inning in his most recent start against the Brewers, raising his ERA in the opening frame to an unsightly 9.39. If he can navigate his way through a clean bottom of the first tonight, he has a chance to have a good night overall. And the Nats will have a chance to get this road trip off on the right foot.

UPDATE: Luis García Jr. has been scratched from the lineup with back tightness, according to the Nationals. José Tena will now start at second base and bat eighth.

Trades and injuries have torn apart the Orioles’ outfield, leading to a different kind of rebuild.

Cedric Mullins, Ramón Laureano and Ryan O’Hearn departed at the deadline. Colton Cowser went on the seven-day concussion list today, retroactive to yesterday, and Tyler O’Neill went on the 10-day IL with right wrist inflammation, retroactive to Wednesday.

In response, the Orioles signed Greg Allen to a one-year major league contract and he’s starting in center field tonight against the Athletics at Camden Yards. Ryan Noda is in right field and Dylan Carlson is in left.

Noda is making his third major league start in right. Carlson has much more experience but he’s in 0-for-28 and 2-for-35 slumps.

“We’ll figure it out as we go,” said interim manager Tony Mansolino. “We’ll play the hot hand. We’ll see what we’ve got. There will be a little platooning. We’re doing it today with Noda in right field.

The Orioles are making another series of roster moves.

They agreed to terms today with outfielder Greg Allen on a one-year major league contract. He’s wearing No. 25.

Allen, 32, is a switch-hitter who batted .270/.355/.440 with 14 doubles, a triple, six home runs and 32 RBIs in 61 games with Triple-A Iowa in the Cubs organization. He was released on Aug. 4.

Allen has a locker at Camden Yards.

Infielder/outfielder Vidal Bruján is gone. The Braves claimed him on waivers today.

The last couple of weeks have not been kind to the Nationals. But the last month has been great for the organization’s farm system.

A lot was asked of Mike DeBartolo when he was given the interim general manager tag on July 6, exactly one week away from making the No. 1 overall selection in the MLB Draft. Two and half weeks later, he had to navigate a hectic trade deadline.

By all accounts, DeBartolo did a really good job for the Nationals’ future.

With No. 1 pick Eli Willits signing under slot value at $8.2 million, the Nats saved almost $3 million toward their bonus pool to draft and sign other high-potential players with their top five picks. Outfielder Ethan Petry (University of South Carolina), prep right-handers Landon Harmon and Miguel Sime Jr., and high school shortstop Coy James all signed well above their respective designated slot values.

And then just last week, DeBartolo was able to trade six major league players (five on expiring contracts and one that was not going to be a part of the young outfield's future) for 10 new prospects.

The Orioles have returned home after a 2-4 road trip in Chicago and Philadelphia, with a three-game series beginning tonight against the Athletics.

Only two games separate the teams in the Wild Card race. Unfortunately, the Orioles are nine back and the Athletics are 11.

There must be more to focus on this weekend than the standings.

Ryan Mountcastle returns.

The Orioles are expected to reinstate Mountcastle from the injured list this weekend, perhaps as early as tonight. He served as designated hitter yesterday afternoon in his ninth rehab game with Triple-A Norfolk.

This homestand has not been kind to the Nationals' offense. Over the first five games, they only scored 23 runs, 11 of which came in the ninth inning.

One of those ninth-inning runs, however, was last night’s walk-off winner to snap a six-game losing streak. The Nats were hopeful those good vibes would carry over into Thursday’s matinee finale as they went for a much-needed series win over the Athletics.

But the early hole the Nats found themselves in this afternoon was too much for this lifeless lineup to overcome in a 6-0 loss in front of an announced crowd of 14,519 on South Capitol Street.

Interim manager Miguel Cairo tried to go against conventional wisdom against A’s left-hander Jacob Lopez. Instead of stacking his order with right-handed hitters, like most teams have against Lopez this year (only 52 plate appearances by left-handed hitters against him entering today), Cairo put six lefties in his starting lineup, leaving two switch-hitters (Josh Bell and Drew Millas) and one right-hander (Brady House) on the bench.

“House has not been hitting good against lefties," Cairo said to explain his lineup after the game. "I wanted (Paul) DeJong, he's been swinging the bat good. JB right-handed, he's not swinging the back good either. He's a better left-handed hitter. So I was just trying to go with giving a chance to (Luis García Jr.) to play second base to see if he can do a better job. But I guess I gotta do a better job doing the lineup against lefties.”

When Shinnosuke Ogasawara signed a two-year, $3.5 million contract with the Nationals in January, not only did he become the first player the organization signed directly from Asia, but he also became an instant contender for a starting rotation spot.

But that didn’t come to fruition in spring training, as he was optioned to start the season at Triple-A Rochester.

The 27-year-old left-hander was called up to make his major league debut on July 6, completing only 2 ⅔ innings and giving up four runs and seven hits in a loss to the Red Sox. His second start was better, but he still gave up three runs and four hits in just four innings against the Brewers.

The Nats optioned Ogasawara back to Rochester following that start, deciding to instead fill his rotation spot with Brad Lord after the All-Star break. But with holes left on the roster following the trade deadline, the club brought him back to the major leagues to take on a role in the bullpen.

Since then, Ogasawara has found the results he and the team had hoped for back in camp.