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The Nationals are moving Mitchell Parker to the bullpen for the remainder of the season, a reflection both of the left-hander’s year-long struggles and the recent emergence of rookie Andrew Alvarez in the rotation.
Parker, whose 16 losses and 5.85 ERA both rank last in the majors, was informed of the switch earlier this week and said he understands the club’s rationale, even though he’s never pitched in relief before.
“Obviously, this year hasn’t been ideal,” he said. “And really, it is what it is. Roles change, goals stay the same. Still got to pitch, still got to get guys out, still trying to win ballgames.”
In spite of his struggles, Parker had held onto his starting job for months, with no viable alternatives knocking on the door in the Nats’ farm system. But when MacKenzie Gore landed on the 15-day injured list in late-August with a minor shoulder issue, the club promoted Alvarez from Triple-A Rochester and then watched the left-hander deliver a 1.15 ERA over his first three big league starts.
Gore’s return to the active roster last week left the Nationals with six healthy starters, but they stuck with the extra man knowing they’d need him to get through Tuesday’s day-night doubleheader against the Braves. Now that they’ve reached the season’s final stretch, with nine remaining games over the next 10 days, they decided there was no need to use a six-man rotation.
Interim manager Tony Mansolino received the news of his bump from third base coach after a May 16 loss to the Nationals at Camden Yards, and his immediate thought turned to the rest of the staff. The uncertainty for everyone moving forward.
He could relate and sympathize.
Mansolino witnessed it through his childhood. He’s dealing with it now, unsure whether he’s returning in 2026. What's here today can be gone tomorrow.
“Listen, I grew up, and I can use my history as a kid, I watched my dad (Doug) be on one-year contracts for most of his career,” Mansolino said. “I watched my dad get fired, get sent home, have to look for a job, and just saw how that affected our family. I lived it, so I’m very sensitive to it and understand it. And in this situation here, I think once this all happened in May, my first reaction was the room, the staff. Because usually what happens in these scenarios is, things change quite a bit.
“Now, I’m hoping that our coaches are recognized for the job that they’ve done here over the last four months. I was just informed that, I guess we’re about to set a record for players used. I had no idea. But if we use that many players and we’ve traded everybody and done the whole deal, and our guys have played the way they have, I hope that reflects upon that coaching room in there. I really hope it does. And they deserve it.
Trevor Rogers makes his 17th start tonight as the Orioles try to even their series with the Yankees following last night’s 7-0 loss, their 15th shutout of the season.
Rogers is 8-2 with a 1.43 ERA and 0.894 WHIP in 100 2/3 innings. He’s allowed two runs or fewer in 15 starts.
His ERA is the lowest by any major league pitcher through the first 16 starts of a season since Nolan Ryan’s 1.29 in 1981, per STATS. And it’s the fourth-lowest in a minimum 15 starts since 1920, after Satchel Paige (1.01 in 1944), Jacob deGrom (1.08 in 2021) and Bob Gibson (1.12 in 1968). Dwight Gooden is behind Rogers with a 1.53 ERA in 1985.
Opponents have a .408 OPS against Rogers through six home starts. Per STATS, he’s the first American League pitcher with that mark or lower through his first six home starts, with a minimum 150 batters faced, since Ryan in 1979.
Tonight marks Rogers’ first game against the Yankees in 2025. He’s faced them twice and allowed two runs in 6 2/3 innings.
NEW YORK – Hello from Citi Field, where tonight the Nationals open their final road trip of the season with the opener of a big weekend series against the Mets. Big for the Mets, that is. New York is clinging to a two-game lead over the Diamondbacks and Reds for the final Wild Card berth in the National League. These games mean a lot to the locals. The Nats, who just got swept by a Braves team playing for nothing, perhaps will be inspired playing in front of a big crowd and a team fighting for its postseason life.
We’ve got a matchup of rookie pitchers tonight. And not just rookies, but extremely inexperienced rookies. Andrew Alvarez makes his fourth career start for the Nationals. Brandon Sproat makes his third career start for the Mets.
Alvarez (1-0, 1.15 ERA) has been outstanding so far, but the left-hander faces probably his toughest challenge yet in Juan Soto, Pete Alonso and the rest of the Mets. Alvarez has managed to surrender only seven hits in 15 2/3 innings to date, and only two of those hits have gone for extra bases (one double, one homer). Can he somehow keep that going tonight?
Sproat, a second-round pick in the 2023 MLB Draft out of Florida, was OK in his major league debut against the Reds (three runs in six innings), then great in his next start against the Rangers (six scoreless innings). The right-hander throws a 95-96 mph fastball, but has a deep repertoire of five pitches that he has already thrown at least 12 percent of the time each, so the Nats' hitters need to be ready for anything.
WASHINGTON NATIONALS at NEW YORK METS
Where: Citi Field
Gametime: 7:10 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Clear, 80 degrees, wind 6 mph in from left field
The Orioles have made the following roster moves:
- Recalled RHP Jose Espada from Triple-A Norfolk. He will wear No. 72.
- Placed RHP Chayce McDermott on the Bereavement/Family Medical Emergency List.
- RHP Scott Blewett (right elbow discomfort) was returned from his rehab assignment, reinstated from the 60-day Injured List, and designated for assignment.
- INF Emmanuel Rivera cleared outright waivers and accepted an assignment to Triple-A Norfolk.
The Orioles’ 40-man roster currently has 39 players.
Some leftovers are more appetizing than others. For instance, the container of Chinese food that I ordered before flying to Chicago has no business being in my refrigerator. The plastic lid is corroding.
However, the mailbag questions that weren’t used earlier this week remain fresh – except for the one asking whether Hanser Alberto has a future in Baltimore. Don’t know how I missed that one. Must have gotten pushed to the back like my beef lo mein.
Here are some extras that didn’t make the first cut.
Do the Orioles expect Grayson Rodriguez to be ready for spring training?
Absolutely. He underwent a procedure on his right elbow to remove a bone spur on Aug. 11. That's plenty of recovery time. There's a reason why he did it last month. And it was a bone spur. We're not talking reconstructive surgery here. The question is whether he remains a starter and can he make it through an entire season healthy. He hasn't pitched in a major league game since July 31, 2024. Counting on him to work near or at the top of the rotation and getting nothing from him is one reason why the season went south.
Will Jackson Holliday get reps in center field next spring, Maybe Coby Mayo in right field some? It sure would help if we have as many extra-inning games next year as this one.
Plans for players in camp will reveal themselves later, but the Orioles seem committed to keeping Holliday and Mayo on the right side of the infield. They didn’t give Mayo reps in right field last spring and have settled on first base as his permanent home. He isn’t working out at third anymore. Holliday stands a better chance of becoming a plus defender at second if he isn’t experimenting with the outfield. Any changes with these players would be a surprise.
With five of their final six series coming against sub-.500 clubs, the Nationals haven’t really had a chance to play any meaningful baseball down the stretch of the season. With one exception: This weekend’s series in New York.
The Mets are the only opponent on the Nats’ late-September schedule that both owns a winning record and is still fighting for a postseason berth. New York enters the day holding a slim, 2-game lead over the Diamondbacks and Reds (and possibly the Giants, pending the outcome of their game late Thursday night against the Dodgers) with nine to play.
Which means the Nationals have a real opportunity to make a difference this weekend, whether hurting or helping the Mets’ chances.
Given how poorly they played earlier this week against a fourth-place Braves team, there’s little reason to think they’re going to flip the switch and perform better against a much better opponent now. But in a strange twist to this most frustrating 2025 season, some of their best performances actually have come against better competition.
The Nats have a winning head-to-head record this year against seven opposing teams. And four of them are playoff contenders: the Tigers, Mariners, Diamondbacks and Reds. They’ve also won individual series along the way against the Dodgers, Mets, Cubs and Giants.
The quest for a .500 season just got a little harder.
A 7-0 loss to the Yankees tonight, played before an announced crowd of 25,253 at Camden Yards, left the Orioles at 72-81 with only nine games remaining in the season. They need to run the table to post a non-losing record.
The schedule includes six more games with the Yankees, including the final series in the Bronx, and three versus the Rays at home.
Cade Povich allowed three runs and five hits with four walks and five strikeouts in five innings and carries a 5.06 ERA into his final start, assuming that the six-man rotation remains untouched. He couldn’t keep up with Yankees left-hander Max Fried, who tossed seven scoreless innings and tied his career high with 13 strikeouts.
Coby Mayo had the only hit off Fried, a one-out single in the second, until Ryan Mountcastle’s single with one out in the sixth. Twelve Orioles in a row were retired.
Ryan Mountcastle didn’t play the past two days in Chicago because of a sore finger, but he’s batting leadoff tonight for the first time in his career.
Mountcastle is part of interim manager Tony Mansolino’s right-handed lineup against Yankees lefty Max Fried.
“Just trying to give Jackson (Holliday) a blow for today,” Mansolino said. “Like a lot of guys this time of year, they’re kind of nicked up in a lot of ways. Just felt like he needed to take the day. I think if you’re in the hunt, Jackson’s probably playing today.”
Holliday has reached base in all seven of his career games against the Yankees. David Newhan was the last Oriole to do it in 2004, per STATS. Brian Roberts (14) was the last to reach in at least eight games in a row from 2001-03.
Mansolino wants to give Mountcastle more playing time down the stretch, though Coby Mayo remains the primary first baseman.
Ryan Mountcastle is batting leadoff tonight for the first time in his career, in his 646th major league game, as the Orioles begin a four-game series against the Yankees at Camden Yards.
Interim manager Tony Mansolino is using a right-handed heavy lineup against Yankees left-hander Max Fried.
Colton Cowser is on the bench again, with Jorge Mateo in center field. Luis Vázquez is the second baseman instead of Jackson Holliday.
Catcher Samuel Basallo is the only left-handed hitter.
Dylan Beavers also is sitting tonight. Jeremiah Jackson is in right field and Tyler O’Neill is in left.
Inside their clubhouse Wednesday evening, the Nationals packed up their bags and prepared to depart for New York. What they really were looking forward to, though, was the day off they’ve got in the Big Apple before opening a three-game series Friday against the Mets.
It’s their first day off in two weeks, since the Thursday they had in Chicago on Sept. 4. In between, they played 14 games in 13 days, winning six and losing eight, the quality of baseball seemingly getting worse as the days passed. To wit: After winning four of their first five during this stretch, they proceeded to lose seven of their next nine.
It was, to be sure, a grueling two weeks. And that would have applied no matter the time of year, but was especially true here in September of a season that was lost months ago.
These Nationals are limping to the finish line, that much seemed clear as they were suffering a four-game sweep at the hands of the Braves this week. A Braves team, by the way, that has nothing to play for itself at the end of an even more frustrating season for a perennial contender that is about to finish with a losing record for the first time in eight years.
Why, then, did Atlanta look so energized during this series while the Nats looked so flat?
CHICAGO – The Orioles are back home for a four-game series against the Yankees that begins tonight, followed by three against the Rays and a final trip to the Bronx. The light at the end of the tunnel isn’t another oncoming train. The season is almost done.
An entire day passed yesterday without a roster move, if you don’t count the Braves claiming reliever Carson Ragsdale on waivers. No one was hurt. No one was put on a plane with instructions to join the team.
Poor health has wrecked the Orioles’ hopes of a third consecutive playoff berth, but they aren’t leaning on that excuse.
It might not support their weight, and the crash could bring physical harm.
“It’s gonna be a huge part of (the story) in a lot of ways,” said interim manager Tony Mansolino. “We’re not gonna blame it all on injuries. I think that’s a little bit of a copout, it’s not very accountable from our perspective to do that. But yeah, it’s hard when all your players aren’t on the field at the same time.
As the bottom of the fifth came to a close at windy, gray Nationals Park late this afternoon, the home team finally had reason to feel encouraged for the first time in this four-games-in-48-hours series against the Braves. Brad Lord had tossed five scoreless innings to continue his September resurgence. The lineup had figured out Atlanta starter Hurston Waldrep at last, scoring three runs in rapid fire to take the lead and snap a 15-inning scoreless streak.
And then Miguel Cairo sent Lord back to the mound for the top of the sixth, a curious decision in the moment that only looked worse when the rookie right-hander gave up hits to two of the three batters he faced before getting pulled.
Not that the bullpen performed any better. Clayton Beeter really turned the top of the sixth into a mess, the Braves ultimately scoring four runs before tacking on two more against newly promoted reliever Sauryn Lao and three more off Shinnosuke Ogasawara to hand the Nats a thoroughly frustrating 9-4 loss that completed a miserable three days at the park.
When this series opened Monday evening, the Nationals trailed the Braves by four games at the bottom of the National League East standings, still with a shot at catching them for fourth place before season’s end. Four straight losses to Atlanta, however, dashed any hope of that and left the Nats at 62-91, matching their loss total from each of the previous two years with nine games still to be played.
"It's never easy to lose," rookie right fielder Dylan Crews said. "We want to win every single day, trust me. We want to go out there and win every single time we walk out onto that field. But we've got to fix some things. We've got to command the strike zone a lot better, from both sides. We do that, a lot of good things happen."
CHICAGO – With a Wild Card berth no longer a mathematical possibility, official elimination arriving late last night, the Orioles must set other goals over the last few weeks.
Perhaps they can finish in fourth place in the division. Maybe post a non-losing record along the way.
Sights are lowered for a team in the basement.
The Orioles completed their sweep of the White Sox this afternoon with a 3-1 victory before an announced crowd of 10,919 at Rate Field. They return home to play the Yankees and Rays and make their final trip with a weekend series in the Bronx.
That’s a wrap on 2025.
The Orioles have made the following roster move:
- RHP Carson Ragsdale claimed off waivers by the Atlanta Braves.
The Nationals will get a look at another newly acquired reliver before season’s end, calling up right-hander Sauryn Lao from Triple-A and optioning Orlando Ribalta to Rochester before today’s series finale against the Braves.
Lao was claimed off waivers from the Mariners on Sept. 3, a 26-year-old rookie who pitched in two major league games for Seattle earlier this season after spending the first nine years of his professional career in the Dodgers organization.
Lao (whose name is pronounced “SOW-rin low”) made three appearances for Rochester following his acquisition from Seattle, allowing one run over 5 2/3 innings, with five hits, two walks and two strikeouts. He primarily throws a four-seam fastball that averages 92 mph and a slider that averages 86 mph, utilizing those two pitches an equal number of times in his brief big league career.
“It’s a fresh arm that can help us,” interim manager Miguel Cairo said. “We got him on waivers, and they want to see him, and this is a chance for him to show what he’s got, and if he can help us.”
Lao didn’t exactly take a conventional path to get here. The Dominican native was originally signed by the Dodgers in 2016 as a corner infielder, converting to a pitcher only in 2023 after his hitting career stalled out at Single-A. He has found new life in the new role, going 8-5 with a 3.46 ERA and 1.251 WHIP in 99 minor league games, including 19 starts for the Mariners’ Triple-A affiliate in Tacoma this season.
It was a miserable Tuesday at Nationals Park, in more ways than one. There was a day-night doubleheader. There was a two-hour rain delay before they could start the nightcap. There were extra innings in that nightcap. And, ultimately, the Nationals lost both games to the Braves, leaving them in danger of a four-game sweep if they lose today’s series finale as well.
But it’s a new day, so who knows what might transpire when these teams meet again at 4:05 p.m. (weather permitting, yet again)?
It’s Brad Lord on the mound for the Nats, looking to finish out his rookie season strong after a little blip recently. Lord gave up seven runs in back-to-back starts against the Yankees and Rays, which made his ERA spike from 3.84 to 4.34. But he was much better his last two times out against the Cubs and Pirates, allowing a total of four runs in 11 2/3 innings, which has brought his ERA down to 4.21. He faced the Braves three times this season, all in May, but all as a reliever. So they’ll be seeing a different version of the right-hander this afternoon.
Offensively, the Nationals desperately need to get something going at the plate early against Hurston Waldrep after getting worked by Spencer Strider, José Suarez and Chris Sale in the first three games of the series. Waldrep, 23, is making only his 10th career start, but his major league debut actually came last summer at Nationals Park. How did the home team do that afternoon? They scored seven runs in the fourth inning off Waldrep, with the big blow being a three-run homer by Keibert Ruiz (who, alas, is not playing today).
ATLANTA BRAVES at WASHINGTON NATIONALS
Where: Nationals Park
Gametime: 4:05 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, 87.7 FM (Spanish), MLB.com
Weather: Chance of rain, 66 degrees, wind 10 mph in from center field
CHICAGO – The Orioles will go for their eighth sweep this afternoon as they wrap up their series against the White Sox.
Tyler Wells makes his third start after allowing three runs in 11 2/3 innings. He’s faced the White Sox twice in his career and surrendered five earned runs (six total) in 7 1/3 innings.
Jorge Mateo is in center field today and batting ninth. Jordan Westburg bats second and starts at third base.
Tyler O’Neill is the designated hitter. Jeremiah Jackson moves down to fifth in the order and is in right field.
Alex Jackson is catching. Samuel Basallo goes to the bench.
CHICAGO – Four relievers pitched last night for the Orioles before they could secure an 8-7 win over the White Sox. Left-hander José Castillo kept his jacket on and his seat on the bench.
Castillo would be the 69th player to appear in a game with the Orioles this season. The Marlins set the record last year by using 70.
The Orioles are in a September race, but not the one they wanted.
The club record was 62 in 2021, but it didn’t stand a chance this year. Injuries and the trade deadline created a roster churn that’s still in motion.
The Orioles have used 39 different pitchers, including position players forced into emergency relief, the second-most in franchise history behind the 42 in 2021. Thirty-four position players have gotten into games, tied for first with the 1955 team.
CHICAGO – What seemed inevitable has become official. The numbers can’t be manipulated. Optimism can’t be manufactured.
The 2025 Orioles are eliminated from the playoff chase.
Tonight’s 8-7 victory over the White Sox at Rate Field won't prolong their bid for a miracle run at the final Wild Card. The Mariners and Astros won, and those teams held the Orioles' fate in their hands.
Finishing above .500 remains a possibility if the Orioles (71-80) win their last 11 games. Their most recent non-winning season was in 2021, when they lost 110.
They shocked the industry in ’22 by posting 83 victories and signaling an end to the rebuild, and they went 101-61 the following year to claim the division.
