ANAHEIM, Calif. – Eleven games into the season, we have a pretty good idea what the 2023 Nationals are and what they are not.

They are not going to beat you with home runs. They are not going to trot out a dominant starting pitcher on most nights.

They are, however, going to put the ball in play and probably rack up a good number of singles and the occasional double. They are going to try to manufacture runs in any way possible. And they are going to hope their bullpen can hang on to finish things off.

It may be a narrow path to victory, but it is possible. And when it comes together like it did tonight in a 6-4 victory over the Angels, it actually makes for quite entertaining baseball.

"It's so much fun," first baseman Dominic Smith said. "I feel like that's how we can build a winning culture. That's something that's going to be our team identity. We'll probably have a couple guys in this lineup who will hit 20 home runs, but for the most part, we're going to have to manufacture runs. And this is the way we're going to have to do it."

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Michael Chavis made the Nationals’ Opening Day roster because of his positional versatility, the club wanted to make sure it had another player on its bench who could handle multiple infield positions if needed.

Chavis’ presence is coming in handy tonight, because with both Luis García an Ildemaro Vargas banged up, the 27-year-old is getting the start at second base for the Nats’ series opener against the Angels.

García, who is dealing with tightness in his right hamstring, went through early running drills to test his leg out. He didn’t appear to have any problems, but he also didn’t appear to be running at 100 percent. He’s not in the lineup for the third straight day, though he did participate in batting practice.

Vargas, who jammed his left shoulder making a diving play at second base during the first inning Sunday in Colorado, was able to finish out the game but admitted he was sore and was having trouble reaching for throws. He was set to meet with doctors this afternoon before learning about his availability for the game.

“I got real nervous,” Vargas said, via interpreter Octavio Martinez. “I’ve never felt anything like that on my shoulder. In the moment, I grabbed it and kind of tugged on it. I don’t know if I adjusted it or not, but I gave it a good tug. Today, it’s just stiff.”

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Hello from “The Big A,” where the Nationals will see how they stack up the next three days with the star-studded Angels. With Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani and Anthony Rendon batting 2-3-4 for the locals, it’s going to be a real challenge. But at least they don’t have to worry about Ohtani pitching until Tuesday.

Patrick Corbin will be tasked with keeping that lineup in check tonight in the series opener. The left-hander still seeks his first quality start of the season. The Nationals obviously would love to get six innings and three or fewer runs out of him tonight.

A Nats lineup that totaled only 17 runs through its first seven games came to life the last three days in Colorado, totaling 23 runs. The question now: Will that carry over into this series, or was that merely a product of Coors Field? They’ll face yet another left-hander tonight in Jose Suarez, remarkably the seventh southpaw they’ve gone up against in their first 11 games.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at LOS ANGELES ANGELS
Where: Angel Stadium
Gametime: 9:38 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN2, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Clear, 67 degrees, wind 7 mph out to center field

NATIONALS
LF Alex Call
RF Lane Thomas
3B Jeimer Candelario
DH Joey Meneses
1B Dominic Smith
C Keibert Ruiz
2B Michael Chavis
CF Victor Robles
SS CJ Abrams

The Orioles begin a new series at home tonight, with the Athletics sending the first of three consecutive left-handed starters to the mound.

Ryan McKenna is starting in right field against Oakland’s JP Sears. Anthony Santander is the designated hitter, with Austin Hays in left.

Gunnar Henderson is out of the lineup. Ramón Urías is the third baseman.

Adley Rutschman is catching. He's batting .389/.476/.556 (14-for-36) with two home runs, six RBIs and six walks in nine games. Still no doubles.

Kyle Gibson has won his first two starts while allowing six runs and 12 hits with one walk in 12 innings. He’s 5-3 with a 4.05 ERA in 10 career starts against the Athletics.

The Orioles have made the following roster moves:

• Optioned LHP Nick Vespi and LHP Bruce Zimmermann to minor league camp.
• Reassigned INF Lewin Díaz, LHP Darwinzon Hernandez, and C Mark Kolozsvary to minor league camp.

The Orioles’ Spring Training roster currently has 46 players (34+12 NRI).

The Orioles have decided to carry three catchers on their 26-man roster.

Veteran James McCann was activated this morning from the 10-day injured list after two injury rehab games at High-A Aberdeen. As the corresponding move, outfielder Kyle Stowers was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk.

Anthony Bemboom remains in the majors, providing a second backup to Adley Rutschman.

McCann could be in today’s lineup with the Yankees starting left-hander Nestor Cortes.

Stowers has barely played this season. He received only six plate appearances in three games.

APRIL 8 vs. NYY

PREGAME CEREMONY: Ramón Urías 2022 Gold Glove Award 

URÍAS will be presented with his Gold Glove Award by Manger Brandon Hyde and a Rawlings Representative prior to the game. Urías was named the recipient of the 2022 Gold Glove Award at third base, the first of his career. He became the first Oriole to win a Gold Glove since Manny Machado in 2015. He is just the third Orioles third baseman to ever win the award, joining Machado and Orioles Legend and National Baseball Hall of Famer, Brooks Robinson. 

PREGAME CEREMONY: Brandon Hyde Baseball America and Sporting News Manager of the Year 

HYDE was voted 2022 Baseball America Manager of the Year, Sporting News AL Manager of the Year and 2022 Baseball Writers' Association of America Manager of the Year Runner Up. Hyde led the O’s to an 83-79 record, his first winning season as manager and the club’s first winning campaign since 2016. He collected his 200^th career managerial win on September 1, 2022, in the O's 3-0 win at Cleveland.

DENVER – Far be it for anyone to anoint this kind of title upon anyone this early in the season, let alone a 24-year-old who has made only two starts for the organization since his acquisition last summer. But if we want to consider this literally, there’s really no question about it: MacKenzie Gore has been the Nationals’ stopper.

The team has won only two of its first eight games. And the winning pitcher in both of those games has been Gore, who followed up his impressive debut against the Braves with an equally strong performance Friday night in the Nats’ 10-5 victory over the Rockies.

Gore stopped a two-game losing streak to begin the season. And now he’s stopped a four-game losing streak that went all the way back to his last start. That seems to make him worthy of the title, right?

“I think everybody here is capable of doing that,” he insisted. “We can win. We played really good today, we played really good the other day when I pitched. Now we need to figure out how to do that consistently and build off each other. We won yesterday, so let’s try to win again today. That’s what we’re going to try to get to. Everybody’s capable of being a stopper. It’s just kind of worked out this way so far.”

It’s worked out this way because Gore has been head-and-shoulders better than the other four members of the Nationals rotation. In two starts, he has allowed a total of three runs on eight hits, striking out 12 over 11 1/3 innings. And because of that – plus some well-timed run support from his teammates – he has emerged with two wins in two starts, confirming what the club believed all along in acquiring him as part of last summer’s Juan Soto blockbuster deal with the Padres.

DENVER – The runs would come, the Nationals insisted. As would the power, so long as they continued to have good at-bats. They just needed to start hitting the ball in the air and hitting the ball with authority in the right moments.

And then Alex Call and Jeimer Candelario backed up the sentiment with back-to-back homers to open tonight’s game at Coors Field, setting the tone for the Nats’ best offensive game of the young season, a 10-5 victory over the Rockies.

Call and Candelario set the tone with their early blasts. CJ Abrams provided the real punch later on with a three-hit, two-triple, three-RBI night. Everyone in the Nationals lineup recorded at least one hit by the sixth inning, with the team totaling 19 by night’s end.

"I think it's only a matter of time before we can open up like that," Call said. "I don't know if we're going to get 19 hits every night, but we have a great team in here and we're confident in all our guys. It was great to see everybody swing the bat really well."

Oh, and MacKenzie Gore pitched well again, allowing just two runs over six innings to improve to 2-0 with a 2.38 ERA in the first two starts of his Nats career. The left-hander is the only pitcher on the staff with a win to date.

Opening Day in Baltimore could not have gone too much better. A sellout crowd of 45,017 got to see the Orioles beat the New York Yankees in comeback fashion. They let a 4-0 lead getaway, but overcame a 5-4 deficit to win 7-6 and improve to 4-3.

For already the third time this year, they have moved one game over .500.

The Orioles, after winning 83 games last season, have not backed down from their own high preseason expectations. They expect to contend this year for their first postseason berth since the 2016 season.

“We expect to win every game when we show up to the field. It doesn’t matter who we are playing on the other side. You know we played everybody tough last year. We have the Yankees today and we expect to win this game and win this series, “ Austin Hays said matter of factly before the home opener.

A theme in the O’s clubhouse before the game was players talking about the buzz around Baltimore amongst the O’s fanbase. Fans are more excited about this team than in years. Hays said he expected to see the big crowd bring the energy as the fans did and that such support can be big for this team this year.

The Orioles had 10 stolen bases in the first two games of the season, and manager Brandon Hyde joked about all the records they could break at such an unrealistic pace.

They swiped one in the next four games.

Somewhere in between the flurry and the freeze is probably a more reasonable expectation.

The 11 steals before yesterday’s home opener ranked first in the majors, followed by the Guardians with 10. Jorge Mateo and Cedric Mullins had four each to tie for third. Adam Frazier, Austin Hays and Ryan McKenna each had one.

Mateo singled with one out in the sixth inning yesterday and stole his fifth base despite a pitch-out. He dived into the bag and easily beat the throw, which arrived on one hop, and he scored the tying run on Adley Rutschman’s single.

DENVER – In this, their eighth game of the season, the Nationals will use their third different leadoff hitter.

Alex Call gets the call tonight against the Rockies, batting first after Lane Thomas (five games) and Luis García (two games) previously handled the responsibility.

Why Call, particularly against José Ureña, a right-handed starter? His .400 on-base percentage so far this season makes a good case for him. So does this particular matchup with Ureña, who struggled with command in his season debut last week.

“The matchup with this guy, I like Alex up there,” manager Davey Martinez said. “He walks some guys. Alex does a great job of being that pesky hitter. We’ll see if we can get him on base.”

Call has performed well since being thrust into a semi-regular job as the starting left fielder while Corey Dickerson is on the injured list with a calf strain. The 28-year-old is batting just .214 (3-for-14) but he’s drawn a team-high five walks, elevating his on-base percentage. He’s also tied with Thomas for the team lead with four RBIs.

Pitcher Cole Irvin was the first, followed by infielder Terrin Vavra. Players jogging down the orange carpet, a Baltimore tradition for the home opener. No one suffering the embarrassment of tripping over it.  

The Orioles hoped to have the same solid footing in their game against the Yankees.

The crowd erupted for Grayson Rodriguez, and later for closer Félix Bautista. Kyle Bradish was cleared to participate after playing catch this morning to test out his bruised right foot – a session aimed more at gauging his progress and when he might be ready to get back on a mound.

Tyler Wells caught the ceremonial first pitch from Governor Wes Moore, who bounced the throw and raised his arms in mock frustration. Moore’s son, James, wore an Adley Rutschman jersey while throwing to Rodriguez. Daughter Mia threw to Jorge Mateo.

The 2023 season already started a week ago in Boston, but it felt more real today.

DENVER – The Nationals have won one game so far through the first week of the 2023 season. That one win came with MacKenzie Gore on the mound. So even though there hasn’t been a lot to get excited about since Opening Day, the presence of the young lefty on the mound should be enough to get excited about tonight’s game at Coors Field.

Gore was outstanding in his Nats debut, holding the Braves to one run and three hits over 5 1/3 innings. Tonight he faces a Rockies lineup that only managed one run yesterday off Josiah Gray and Mason Thompson, and that run was possible only because of a fly ball lost in the sun. You hate to ask a 24-year-old making his second-ever start for his team to serve as the stopper, but that’s kind of what the Nationals need Gore to be tonight.

Of course, it doesn’t matter how well Gore pitches if his teammates can’t provide some run support. The Nats did not provide any for Gray yesterday, shut out by Kyle Freeland and Co. Tonight, they face perhaps a more favorable matchup in José Ureña. The veteran right-hander and former regular member of the Marlins rotation struggled mightily in his Colorado debut, giving up four runs on five hits and four walks in only 2 1/3 innings against the Padres. The Nationals will have to be careful not to chase if Ureña is regularly out of the strike zone again tonight.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS at COLORADO ROCKIES
Where: Coors Field
Gametime: 8:40 p.m. EDT
TV: MASN, MLB.tv
Radio: 106.7 FM, MLB.com
Weather: Partly cloudy, 61 degrees, wind 7 mph in from center field

NATIONALS
LF Alex Call
3B Jeimer Candelario
DH Joey Meneses
1B Dominic Smith
C Keibert Ruiz
2B Luis García
RF Lane Thomas
SS CJ Abrams
CF Victor Robles

After playing series in Boston and Texas, the Orioles will finally reunite with their home fans today for Opening Day in Baltimore. The Orioles (3-3) host the New York Yankees (4-2) to start a three-game series and seven-game homestand.

The Orioles have gone 45-24 in home openers in club history, including 21-10 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The Birds defeated the Milwaukee Brewers last year, 2-0, to snap a three-season losing streak in home openers since 2019. The Orioles are 4-4 when their home opener is against the Yankees. The last time they played New York on this day was 2020 – a 9-3 Yankees win. They also won home openers versus New York in 1964, 1972, 2002 and 2009.  

The Orioles own a 1,199-1,222-2 (.495) all-time record in 2,423 games at Oriole Park since 1992. The Birds have mashed 3,012 home runs at Oriole Park since the ballpark opened, including 55 long balls that have landed on the iconic Eutaw Street promenade that separates the ballpark and the historic B&O Warehouse.

The Orioles went 1-2 at Boston and 2-1 at Texas. Wednesday’s 5-2 loss at Texas snapped Baltimore’s eight-game win streak against that club.

The O's opened the 2023 season by hitting multiple home runs in each of their first five games, tied for the third-longest streak to start a season by a team since at least 1901, and tied with the 1994 Orioles for the longest streak in club history. Baltimore was the only MLB team to start the ‘23 campaign with five consecutive multi-homer games. This marked the fifth time in club history that the Orioles homered in each of their first five games to start a season, and first since 2012.

Annual promotion will deliver two $50,000 prizes, including one for the O’s 50th home run of 2023

With the 2023 season underway, Orioles fans are enjoying a new level of excitement. Last season brought the first fruits of a years-long rebuild, as the O’s registered a winning record for the first time since 2016 and stayed in the hunt for a playoff berth all the way through September. Throughout last season, there was a sense that something special was going to happen each game and that there are even bigger moments ahead.

Some of the fans hoping for big moments from the Orioles in 2023 are also participating in this year’s Home Run Riches Contestant of the Game promotion from the Maryland Lottery. The fan-favorite Home Run Riches FAST PLAY game and second-chance promotion are back this year and even bigger than before. 

The Maryland Lottery will again hold monthly drawings to select Contestants of the Game for each of the Orioles’ 162 regular season games. Each winner receives $500 for being picked, and will be designated as the Contestant of the Game for an upcoming Orioles matchup. They’ll also win an additional $500 for each home run the Orioles hit during their designated game.

Last year, the Orioles slugged 171 home runs, led by 33 from outfielder Anthony Santander. The $500 for each of those homers, combined with the $500 each Contestant of the Game won for being drawn, delivered a total of $166,500 prizes. 

The impact of home Opening Day in Baltimore and the renewed enthusiasm for the club really hit catcher Adley Rutschman as he was driving. Passengers in the car next to him wore his No. 35 jersey and began waving to him.

“Got me excited,” he said. “I’m ready to go today. I think everyone’s excited.”

Rutschman paused, turned in a circle and soaked up the atmosphere after moving behind the plate for the first time in his major league debut. What he’s feeling today is similar.

“It’s a new experience and everyone’s told me such great things about Opening Day’s here, just the atmosphere, so I’m really excited,” he said.

“I feel like everyone kind of has similar advice as far as, just enjoying it, making sure you take it in, and you’ll appreciate what you have.”

Among the first challenge of the day for the Orioles, even before they try to beat the New York Yankees, is to navigate that long run down the orange carpet. Every year O’s players joke about not tripping on that jog in. But in reality, it’s just a very special moment for each and every player.

They bask in the cheers of over 40,000 fans and soak it in on another Opening Day in Baltimore. Today Ryan Mountcastle is taking in his third opener in Baltimore.

“It’s crazy. I remember last year doing it," he said. "It’s definitely something that is a once in a lifetime type thing. It’s really cool. Gonna be happy to experience that and all these young guys too. Should be pretty exciting." 

Outfielder Austin Hays, who has run down a few orange carpets, was asked if he has any advice for the young players going through their first Opening Days in Baltimore.

“Just enjoy every second of it,” he said. “Watch your step on that carpet, you can get caught up on it, it has happened in the past. So, watch your step and enjoy every second of it. It really is something special here in Baltimore. Been able to open up a couple of parks now and there is nothing like Camden Yards and the orange carpet is really cool.”

Kyle Bradish is playing catch today to test a right foot and ankle that he said is showing “a lot of improvement.”

Bradish was nailed by a Jonah Heim line drive in the second inning of Monday night’s game in Texas. He’s on the 15-day injured list with a contusion on his foot after X-rays and further testing didn’t reveal a fracture.

“I have no doubt,” Bradish said when asked if he could return when eligible. “If it was a 10-day IL, I’d still be ready for that one, too. So, barring any setbacks, and I don’t believe we’ll have any, yeah, I’ll be ready.”

Bradish said he hadn’t discussed with the club whether he could jog down the orange carpet for introductions in the home opener.

“I’m going to see how it feels when I go out and play catch,” he said. “I would like to, but we’ll see.”

DENVER – Coors Field can play tricks with the minds of pitchers and hitters alike. Pitchers enter this gorgeous ballpark at mile-high elevation and panic about anything left up and over the plate being launched into the stratosphere. Hitters come here and assume all they have to do is get the ball in the air and then watch it fly.

It doesn’t always work that way. It certainly didn’t this afternoon in the 30th home opener in Rockies history, in which the home team scored one run thanks to a fly ball lost in the sun and the visitors never came close to crossing the plate themselves.

Yep, that’s a 1-0 final, only the 11th in ballpark history, the Nationals losing for the sixth time in seven games to begin the season despite getting six highly effective innings from Josiah Gray and two more from reliever Mason Thompson. Quality pitching at altitude matters not if your lineup can’t even score a run.

"It's tough," manager Davey Martinez said. "He threw the ball well. Mason came in, threw the ball well. We couldn't score any runs today."

It's the first time the Nats have been shut out this year, but it's hardly the first time they've been rendered helpless. They've scored a total of 17 runs in seven games. They're batting .227 as a team, while slugging just .289.