CHICAGO – Kyle Stowers is in left field today and Ramón Urías is the third baseman, as the Orioles try to win a third consecutive game after being swept in St. Louis.

Ryan O’Hearn is in right field. Colton Cowser returns to center field after last night’s leaping catch at the fence to rob Tommy Pham of a home run and end the game.

Jordan Westburg’s RBI double last night snapped an 0-for-13 streak. He’s the second baseman today.

Gunnar Henderson and Houston’s Kyle Tucker are tied for the major league home run lead with 17. Henderson is swinging 56.1 percent of the time with two strikes, with eight of his home runs coming in those counts, per STATS.

Albert Suárez is making the start after the Orioles put Dean Kremer on the 15-day injured list with a strained right triceps. He’s made 10 appearances, the last seven in relief, and registered a posted a 1.78 ERA and 0.947 WHIP in 25 1/3 innings.

After the Nationals finished their three-game series against the Twins on Wednesday, their presumed starting pitchers for this weekend’s three-game series against the Mariners were MacKenzie Gore, Trevor Williams and Mitchell Parker.

But Thursday’s off-day gave manager Davey Martinez a chance to switch things up and give one of his young starters some extra rest before his next start.

Patrick Corbin will now start Sunday’s finale against Seattle on normal rest, with Parker starting the opener in Atlanta on Memorial Day.

“I just wanted to give Parker an extra day,” Martinez said before Friday’s 6-1 win. “You know, he hasn't done this (starting in the major leagues). So I thought it'd be nice to give him an extra day.”

Parker made his last start on Monday (six innings, seven hits, three runs, one walk and seven strikeouts in a win over the Twins), so he’ll actually get two extra days of rest before retaking the hill Monday.

CHICAGO – The Orioles won’t completely empty their injured list this season because closer Félix Bautista is on the 60-day and unavailable until 2025. He’s playing catch and posting videos of his workouts in Sarasota.

They got it down to two names, including Tyler Wells, before John Means and Dean Kremer hopped on this week on back-to-back days. Health progress is made and then erased.

To borrow a Bruce Springsteen lyric, one step up and two steps back.

Five starters have gone on the injured list. Ace Corbin Burnes and left-hander Cole Irvin, temporarily moved to the bullpen, have managed to avoid it.

Knuckles rap on wood at the mere mention of it.

CHICAGO - This time the Orioles endured yet another rain delay, except this one came without rain or even a tarp. The field was ready for play but with the chance of a storm coming, the start of the Oiroles-White Sox game last night was delayed by 41 minutes.

It just delayed another win and another unique ending. And this time there was no controversial umpire's call. Just a leaping catch at the center field wall by Colton Cowser as the Orioles beat a pesky White Sox team 6-4. 

It seems like they are slowly coming out of their slumping ways on offense, or at least what was an offense that put up just eight runs when they were swept at St. Louis. But now in the last two games here, the Orioles have scored 14 runs on 21 hits with six doubles, three homers and also in going 7-for-18 with runners in scoring position.

On Thursday night in Chicago, the O's saw Ryan Mountcastle get going with a four-hit game and the night also featured two hits by Cedric Mullins and homers by Anthony Santander and Jorge Mateo.

Friday night two players that were struggling a bit recently had solid games in Jordan Westburg and Ryan O'Hearn. Adley Rutschman had the clutch hit late and Gunnar Henderson homered again. 

CHICAGO – Orioles manager Brandon Hyde explained earlier in the day why Adley Rutschman wasn’t in the lineup. Had nothing to do with an injury. That’s reserved for the rotation.

Three consecutive day games were on the docket. This was a way to give the catcher a little break before the grind.

Hyde smiled as he sat in the visiting dugout and conceded that Rutschman probably would get in there anyway. That’s usually how it works.

Rutschman came off the bench in the eighth inning and singled with two outs to score two runs, breaking a tie and giving the Orioles a 6-4 victory over the White Sox before an announced crowd of 18,831 at Guaranteed Rate Field that ensures nothing less than a split of the four-game series.

The Orioles are 31-18 and starting Albert Suárez on Saturday afternoon after placing Dean Kremer on the 15-day injured list with a strained right triceps.

CHICAGO - The Orioles aren’t listing a starter for Saturday afternoon’s game against the White Sox. They can go in a few directions. Calling upon Dean Kremer isn't among them.

Kremer was supposed to get the ball on his normal turn, but he’s on the 15-day injured list with a strained right triceps. Manager Brandon Hyde said he could make the announcement after tonight’s game.

“This is still pretty fresh so we’re still talking about it,” Hyde said.

Albert Suárez is the in-house candidate. He can provide some length.

Meanwhile, left-hander Cade Povich is scheduled to start Saturday for Triple-A Norfolk in Worcester. The No. 9 prospect in the system per MLB Pipeline is 5-1 with a 2.08 ERA and 1.049 WHIP in nine games and is averaging 12.3 strikeouts per nine innings. His walk rate is down to 3.2, compared to 5.8 last year in 10 starts with the Tides.

After ending the season's first three-game losing skid with Thursday's 8-6 win over the Chicago White Sox, the O's look to take two in a row in this four-game series tonight at Guaranteed Rate Field.

Anthony Santander hit a solo homer and Jorge Mateo blasted a three-run shot in a four-run fourth inning as the Orioles opened a 5-2 lead and never trailed after that. The O's had 13 hits, two off their season-high and it was the sixth time this year they've had 13 or more. They scored eight runs or more in a game for the eighth time in the 2024 season.

Mateo hit his homer 434 feet, the longest blast of his career. When he hit seven homers last year he averaged a homer every 45.43 at-bats and had a slugging percentage of .340. This year that average is one every 29.67 at-bats and his slugging mark is now .483. Mateo also walked twice in the game, his first game of the season with more than one walk. He also had two steals and Mateo is the first Orioles player with a home run and two stolen bases in the same game since Cedric Mullins on Sept. 10, 2021 against the Blue Jays.

Ryan Mountcastle, who had been 2-for-25 his previous six games, went 4-for-5 with a double and scored twice. He raied his batting average from .256 to .272. His single in the fourth inning produced an exit velocity of 112.3 mph. This was Mountcastle's first four-hit game since Aug. 3, 2023.

There were 12 balls hit last night at 100 mph or more, eight by the Orioles.

Members of the local media walked into the Nationals clubhouse this afternoon expecting to see a familiar face back at his locker. But lo and behold, it was the same 26-man group getting ready for tonight’s series opener against the Mariners.

Lane Thomas will continue his minor league rehab assignment over the next couple of days, manager Davey Martinez announced, ending speculation that the outfielder would rejoin the team for the holiday weekend.

Finally cleared to return to game action since landing on the 10-day injured list on April 24 with a left MCL sprain, Thomas has made three rehab appearances with Double-A Harrisburg this week, going 2-for-9 with a double, a walk, two strikeouts, a stolen base and an outfield assist. He played a full nine innings for the first time Thursday night. He's leading off and serving as the designated hitter tonight.

“He played nine innings yesterday. He's feeling better,” Martinez said during his pregame media session. “Just as I thought, playing nine innings, being on his feet, he's a little sore. But he's getting there. He wanted to play a couple more games and then we'll see how he comes out of it. I know they got a day off on Monday, so we'll re-evaluate him after this weekend. But he's doing good. He's getting some at-bats. He's gonna play nine innings again today. We'll go day-by-day with him.”

The Nationals offense could use Thomas right now. They have scored two or fewer runs in seven of their last 11 games, losing nine overall. And although the 29-year-old got off to a slow start this year (.184 average, .503 OPS, two home runs, 10 RBIs), he was their most productive hitter last year. At the very least, he could provide more protection in the lineup for the slumping CJ Abrams.

CHICAGO - The Orioles are running out of starters.

The team announced today that it placed Dean Kremer on the 15-day injured list with a right triceps strain, retroactive to Tuesday. They also optioned Jonathan Heasley to Triple-A Norfolk.

On the other side of the transaction, the Orioles recalled relievers Dillon Tate and Nick Vespi from Norfolk.

Kremer was supposed to start Saturday afternoon against the White Sox. He’s joining John Means on the IL.

Kremer is 3-4 with a 4.32 ERA and 1.120 WHIP in nine starts. He’s allowed eight earned runs and 11 total in his last two games covering 9 2/3 innings.

The Nationals need to break out of this offensive slump in the worst way. Despite scoring 12 runs in a blowout win over the Twins on Monday, they have scored two or fewer runs in seven of their last 11 games, losing nine overall. They have scored the second-fewest runs in the National League this season (Cardinals) and are in the lower third of the league with a .237 average with runners in scoring position.

The Nats will try again to get going tonight against Mariners starter George Kirby, who has been a mixed bag to start the year. While the young right-hander has four shutout starts, he also has four outings with four or more earned runs charged to his line, leading to an ERA of 3.99.

The offensive woes are especially frustrating since the Nats have received some solid pitching performances that have gone to waste lately: The pitching staff has given up four or fewer runs in nine of the last 11 games. MacKenzie Gore will look to continue that trend on the mound in his 10th turn in the rotation while coming off back-to-back quality starts for the first time this year.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. SEATTLE MARINERS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 6:45 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 The Fan, DC 87.7 (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 83 degrees, wind 5 mph from right to left field

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
RF Eddie Rosario
DH Joey Meneses
2B Luis García Jr. 
LF Jesse Winker
C Keibert Ruiz
3B Nick Senzel
1B Joey Gallo 
CF Jacob Young

The Nationals need more offense right now, nobody’s disputing that. They’ve lost nine of their last 11 games, and in seven of those losses they’ve scored two or fewer runs. (Their pitching staff, meanwhile, has given up four or fewer runs in all but two of these last 11 games, so you can’t really place any blame on that unit.)

Given the current state of affairs, it’s going to take more than one hot bat to turn the lineup around. Far too many regulars are slumping, and there isn’t one magic bullet waiting in the wings to save the day. (Not even James Wood, though you’d have to believe he would help way more than he’d hurt the team right now.)

The Nationals should be getting one proven hitter back in their lineup soon, though. Perhaps as soon as tonight. Lane Thomas is just about ready to return from his knee injury, and his return will be fully embraced by his team.

“He’s a big piece to our lineup,” manager Davey Martinez said earlier this week. “He’s been that 2-hole guy, and he and CJ (Abrams) have seemed to work well together. Hopefully we get him back soon, because we definitely miss him. When he’s in the lineup, it stretches our lineup a lot.”

Indeed, Thomas’ absence since he sprained the MCL in his left knee one month ago has been noticeable, even though he wasn’t performing up to his past standards, producing a mere .503 OPS in 22 games. Martinez has scrambled to find someone else to bat second behind Abrams, from Jesse Winker to Nick Senzel to Ildemaro Vargas to Eddie Rosario.

They waited around all afternoon in the summerlike heat and humidity, waiting for the home team to give itself a legitimate chance to score and get itself back into a very winnable game.

And when the situation finally presented itself in the bottom of the seventh, and then again in the bottom of the ninth, the crowd of 21,837 tried to muster up the energy to encourage the Nationals to come through at last in a big spot.

In each case, the air was sucked back out of the ballpark. And by day's end, the Nats had suffered another demoralizing loss, this one by the count of 3-2 in the rubber game of their series against the Twins.

Tuesday night’s 10-0 blowout was no fun at all. But this wasn’t any more enjoyable, not with the Nationals lineup yet again unable to mount any semblance of sustained offense. As has been the case too often the last two weeks, the opportunity to win a low-scoring game was right before their eyes, thanks to another effective pitching performance from Jake Irvin and the bullpen.

But as has too often been the case as well, the Nats simply couldn’t take advantage of it. They’ve now lost nine of their last 11, and in seven of those games they’ve scored two or fewer runs.

The Orioles completed their suspended game today with a 3-1 loss to the Cardinals, setting up this afternoon’s series finale before the charter flight to Chicago.

A win is needed to prevent the sweepless streak in the regular season from ending at 106 series.

Nolan Gorman hit a two-run homer off Keegan Akin in the sixth inning to break a 1-1 tie. Akin inherited a runner from Jacob Webb.

Ryan Mountcastle singled today to interrupt a 1-for-26 slump. He’s on the bench for the second game.

Left-hander Nick Vespi was added as the 27^th man. The Cardinals added right-hander Chris Roycroft.

The Nationals’ bullpen hierarchy has been pretty standard in recent seasons. Davey Martinez usually had two or three relievers he relied on to pitch late in close games. The others tended to be used in lopsided games, whether the team was winning or losing.

The gap between the “A” bullpen and “B” bullpen has been shrinking so far this season, though. Hunter Harvey and Kyle Finnegan remain the go-to guys in the eighth and ninth innings, but beyond that Martinez has shown trust in almost everyone else to pitch in situations of consequence.

“Hey, if I put you in the game, it’s because I trust you,” the manager said with a laugh. “But it is nice to know we have some guys who can get big outs at any moment, really.”

Truth be told, Martinez is willing to use seven of the eight members of his current bullpen in close games. Dylan Floro, who has allowed only one run in 23 2/3 innings, has emerged as the top seventh-inning option in front of Harvey and Finnegan. But Derek Law (2.76 ERA), Jacob Barnes (3.14) and Jordan Weems (4.76) all have been used as well. And Robert Garcia remains the choice for matchups against left-handed hitters.

They haven’t all been perfect, but they’ve all shown enough to warrant continued usage. And that, the Nationals hope, will pay off in the long run.

You couldn’t draw up more extreme polar opposites for the first two games of a series than what we just experienced. The Nationals blew out the Twins on Monday night, 12-3. Then the Twins blew out the Nationals on Tuesday night, 10-0. So who knows what to expect in today’s matinee finale?

The Nats have to get a better start from Jake Irvin than they got from Patrick Corbin. Irvin, native of Bloomington, Minn., will be plenty motivated facing his hometown team. He’s coming off a bit of a rough outing in Philadelphia, where he gave up four runs in five innings against a very good lineup. He’ll try to provide some more length this afternoon.

Simeon Woods Richardson, today’s Minnesota starter, has been very good, entering this one with a 2.97 ERA and a 25-to-6 strikeout-to-walk ratio. But the right-hander made only one big league appearance last year, and it happened to come against the Nationals. Who roughed him up for five runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS vs. MINNESOTA TWINS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 1:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 88.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 85 degrees, wind 10 mph out to left field

NATIONALS
SS CJ Abrams
RF Eddie Rosario
LF Jesse Winker
DH Joey Meneses
2B Luis García Jr.
3B Ildemaro Vargas
1B Joey Gallo
C Riley Adams
CF Jacob Young

There hadn’t been a night like this, not for the Nationals and not for Patrick Corbin in a while. The kind of night when you know early on it’s going to be one of those nights. The kind of night that too often defined Corbin’s 2020-23 seasons but seemingly had occurred with less frequency so far in 2024.

It happened tonight, though, and it was no easier to watch than any of the previous ones. The only saving grace: There may not be that many more opportunities for Corbin to experience more of these.

Tonight’s 10-0 whitewashing at the hands of the Twins was perhaps the low point of the season to date for the Nationals, who even when they lose have almost always managed to keep it close. Not so this time, not with Corbin getting rocked by a Minnesota lineup that had scored a total of 12 runs during its now-expired seven-game losing streak.

It didn’t help matters that the exact same Nats lineup that busted out for 12 runs Monday night against Pablo López and the Twins bullpen was completely shut down by Joe Ryan only 24 hours later. Not that it would’ve made a whole lot of difference tonight, because it would’ve required a ton of run support to counteract Corbin’s start.

"Sometimes those days just happen," manager Davey Martinez said. "He's been really good, and really keeping us in games. Today, it just didn't happen."

Lane Thomas’ first rehab game in Harrisburg didn’t include any hits, but it did include a stolen base, an outfield assist and positive reports about the state of his left knee.

Thomas went 0-for-3 earlier today in his rehab debut, starting in right field for Double-A Harrisburg in an 11 a.m. matinee against Akron.

“He said he felt OK,” manager Davey Martinez said. “We’ll see how he comes out of it tomorrow, and if he’s good, we’ll try to get him at least four at-bats tomorrow.”

Out since April 23 with an MCL sprain in his left knee, Thomas was cleared to begin playing in games this week. He was thrown right into the leadoff spot in the Senators lineup and immediately reached base in the bottom of the first on a throwing error by Akron pitcher Ryan Webb. Thomas then stole second base, providing further evidence his knee is healed.

Thomas grounded out to short in his second at-bat, then grounded out to first base in his third and final at-bat of the day. He played a total of five innings in the field.

There were two on with two out in the sixth, the Twins having already scored twice in the inning, now sending their seventh batter of the frame to the plate. Mitchell Parker was up to 89 pitches, and Derek Law was warm in the bullpen.

Davey Martinez has made the walk to the mound more often than not in those situations in recent seasons. A fading young starter typically gives way to a more experienced reliever in an attempt to get out of a jam.

This time, though, Martinez decided not to make the move. He decided to let Parker try to pitch himself out of the inning.

“We thought about taking him out, but I wanted to see what he could do,” the Nationals manager said. “We had a big enough lead. I wanted to see him get through it. And he did. He got a big out for us. That was awesome to see.”

Indeed, Parker proceeded to strike out Kyle Farmer on five pitches, the last of them a 94-mph fastball on what proved to be his 94th and final pitch Monday night. The rookie was rewarded for it with his third big league win, the Nats ultimately cruising to a 12-3 victory.

The Nationals finally broke out of their offensive slumber tonight, and all it took was a couple of rare home runs, as many hits with runners in scoring position as they had totaled in their previous five games and one wild trip around the bases by Eddie Rosario.

A 12-3 rout over the Twins, to put it mildly, was exactly what this team needed.

Snapping their losing streak at five games by extending Minnesota’s losing streak to seven games, the Nats enjoyed their best all-around offensive showing since their last homestand. And combined with another quality start from rookie Mitchell Parker, this turned into one of their most enjoyable ballgames in some time.

"We talk about it all the time: When you score early, things start to fall into place," manager Davey Martinez said. "They start to relax a little bit. The at-bats get better. ... You get that, and you get another good outing from Mitchell, and it becomes a good day."

The just-completed, 2-7 trip through Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia was a miserable one, especially from an offensive standpoint. The Nationals scored two runs or fewer in five of those losses, they went 5-for-43 with runners in scoring position over the last five games and they only managed to score five runs Sunday with a way-too-late rally against the Phillies that had no bearing on the outcome of the game.

It happened on a back field in West Palm Beach, under a blazing hot sun, against a lineup made up of much younger prospects (plus one established big leaguer). But it was a competitive baseball game, the first one Cade Cavalli had pitched in since March 2023, when he tore his elbow ligament and required Tommy John surgery.

Cavalli’s first official rehab start took place this morning at the Florida Complex League. Pitching for the Nationals’ Rookie-level minor league affiliate, the right-hander tossed 2 2/3 innings of scoreless ball, striking out five and allowing only two batters from the Astros’ FCL affiliate to reach base against him.

“It’s awesome,” said manager Davey Martinez, who watched video of the outing. “It’s a process, and he’s done really well. I know he feels like he’s ahead of the game, but we had to stay with what we know about this Tommy John stuff and make sure his progressions are what they should be. And he’s done really well with it.”

Cavalli threw 44 pitches, a base point for him as he now builds his arm back up during the final stages of his rehab. His fastball registered 97 mph. The only hit he surrendered came against Jose Abreu, the veteran slugger the Astros sent all the way down to rookie ball to get his career back on track.

Barring any post-start complications, Cavalli will be back on a mound in five days, adding to his innings and pitch count. Over the course of the next month, he should work his way up the organizational ladder, pitching for multiple minor league affiliates.