The All-Star Game is a week from today, which is the unofficial halfway point of the season.

The Orioles are playing their 90^th game tonight, against the Mets at Camden Yards, to begin their last homestand before the break. They can move eight below .500 for the first time since May 6.

Four days off before another trip to Tampa present an opportunity to process everything that’s happened and wonder exactly how they got to this point. How so many surprises attached to one team like barnacles. 

* Rather than challenge for a division title, the Orioles are stuck in last place.

* Their two best starters are Trevor Rogers and Charlie Morton.

When last we saw the Nationals on the field, CJ Abrams was lofting a long fly ball to left field for the final out of a 6-4 loss to the Red Sox, completing a series sweep. A frustrating loss to end the homestand, for sure, but it was immediately followed by uplifting news: James Wood and MacKenzie Gore had been voted into the All-Star Game by their peers.

When the Nats take the field again tonight in St. Louis, they will do so after the biggest shakeup this organization has experienced in a very long time. The Sunday night firings of general manager Mike Rizzo and manager Davey Martinez threw the franchise into chaos, and it’s probably a good thing the team was off Monday because it took more than 24 hours for the dust to settle from that seismic event.

Miguel Cairo, not Martinez, will be manager tonight against the Cardinals and presumably each of the season’s final 70 games. Mike DeBartolo, not Rizzo, will be in charge of baseball operations. Both already were well-respected club employees and are as reasonably prepared for their new assignments as possible. But both are entering uncharted waters.

There are countless questions that still need to be answered. Some of them probably need to be answered by a higher-ranking team employee than will be made available this afternoon at Busch Stadium. But for now, here’s what we need to hear from DeBartolo and Cairo as they embark on an unexpected journey for the next three months …

ARE THERE ANY OTHER CHANGES TO THE COACHING STAFF?
It did not initially sound like there are, but we don’t know that for sure yet. Cairo gets bumped up from bench coach to interim manager. Will he have a bench coach? Will they add that title to catching coach Henry Blanco’s responsibilities, or might they add someone new to the staff to help out? Is everyone else from Martinez’s staff staying through the season, one that essentially leaves them all with lame-duck status?

The Nationals named Miguel Cairo interim manager this afternoon, promoting Davey Martinez’s bench coach in the wake of his firing Sunday evening.

Cairo will take over Tuesday night when the Nats open a three-game series in St. Louis, inheriting the same coaching staff he was a part of the last 1 1/2 seasons.

The former big league infielder was offered the job following Martinez’s dismissal Sunday after the team was swept by the Red Sox, falling to 37-53 in a season that was supposed to see the franchise take a significant step forward in a rebuilding effort that began four years ago. He took a day to consider the offer before accepting.

Triple-A manager Matt LeCroy likely was the Nationals’ other option to replace Martinez for the remainder of the season before a full managerial search is conducted by ownership and the club’s eventual permanent general manager.

Mike DeBartolo, who was named interim GM on Sunday after Mike Rizzo was fired following a 16-year tenure leading baseball operations, is now in charge of day-to-day operations. In addition to the 72 games remaining on the team’s schedule, DeBartolo also has immediate responsibilities leading the Nats into Sunday’s MLB Draft (they hold the No. 1 overall pick for the first time since they drafted Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper in 2009-10) and then the July 31 trade deadline.

Age doesn’t matter to Keagan Gillies. It’s just a number and part of his baseball journey.

What’s important is where he’s headed – from Double-A to Triple-A and to next Saturday’s All-Star Futures Game in Atlanta.

Gillies learned about his selection shortly before the Orioles bumped him another level in their farm system. Chesapeake Baysox manager Roberto Mercado delivered the news after Gillies came out of the game, ample reward for a reliever with a 1.15 ERA, 0.574 WHIP and eight saves in 26 appearances.

“I’m very pumped up. It’s gonna be a fun time,” said Gillies, the first Tulane University alumnus chosen since the Tigers’ Jake Rogers in 2019.

“It was surprising. I know I had worked hard for this, I know that I had a good season up to this point, but to be recognized in this way, it’s an honor and I’m grateful for it.

Mike Rizzo became the Nationals’ full-time general manager in August 2009. By that point, he had three years of experience with the organization, five months of experience as interim GM. Taking over a franchise in disarray following the mid-spring training resignation of Jim Bowden amid a scandal involving a Dominican prospect who falsified his name and age, Rizzo did plenty during those five months to convince the Lerner family and then-team president Stan Kasten he deserved the job on a permanent basis.

But there was one final task Rizzo needed to accomplish before his superiors were fully convinced: He needed to sign Stephen Strasburg before the Aug. 15 midnight deadline for all of that summer’s draft picks.

Rizzo took negotiations with agent Scott Boras down to the final minute before emerging with a deal: four years, $15.1 million, the most money ever guaranteed a major league draft pick. And in the Nationals Park conference room where he announced that successful deal in the wee hours of the morning – the same room where one year earlier Bowden announced he had not been able to sign 2008 first round pick Aaron Crow – an unsuspecting Rizzo was ambushed by Kasten with a shaving cream pie to the face.

A few days later, Rizzo officially had the GM job he long coveted. One he held for just shy of 16 years, making him one of the longest tenured heads of baseball operations in the industry. Along the way, he built a 103-loss team into a 98-win division champion, made the playoffs five times in eight seasons, won D.C.’s first World Series title since 1924, tore down the remnants of that championship roster to embark on another rebuild, traded away a likely future Hall of Famer for five prospects (three of which have since become All-Stars), hired five managers, signed five players to nine-figure contracts, signed countless more to lesser deals, acquired players who helped make the team better and in some cases worse and both butted heads with and celebrated successes with nearly everyone he worked with along the way.

Signed to five separate contract extensions over the years, Rizzo always seemed to find himself waiting until the last minute for his bosses to lock him up, an annoyance for sure but one he begrudgingly accepted as the price of holding such an important position in this organization. That’s the situation he found himself in once again this summer, waiting to see if the Lerner family was going to pick up his contract option for the following season or finally decide it was time to make a change.

A massively disappointing first half to a season that was expected to feature significant on-field progress four years into a franchise rebuild has cost the two most prominent people in the Nationals organization their jobs.

Both general manager Mike Rizzo and manager Davey Martinez were fired by ownership this evening, shortly after the team was swept by the Red Sox to fall to 37-53. In a statement announcing the stunning changes, managing principal owner Mark Lerner said longtime assistant general manager Mike DeBartolo will take over as interim GM in Rizzo’s stead. An interim manager to replace Martinez will be named Monday.

“On behalf of our family and the Washington Nationals organization, I first and foremost want to thank Mike and Davey for their contributions to our franchise and our city,” Lerner said. “Our family is eternally grateful for their years of dedication to the organization, including their roles in bringing a World Series trophy to Washington, D.C. While we are appreciative of their past successes, the on-field performance has not been where we or our fans expect it to be. This is a pivotal time for our club, and we believe a fresh approach and new energy is the best course of action for our team moving forward.”

Though the long-term fates of both Rizzo and Martinez were very much up in the air after a dismal month of June that included an 11-game losing streak, the decision to make changes at both positions right now, one week shy of the All-Star break and the MLB Draft – with the Nats holding the No. 1 overall pick – was unexpected.

Both Rizzo and Martinez had 2026 contract options that needed to be picked up sometime this month. Had they not been picked up, it was assumed both would still finish out the rest of the season before changes were made, perhaps more so in the case of the GM position than the managerial position.

The first inning of Shinnosuke Ogasawara’s major league debut suggested a very long day ahead for the Nationals and the first Japanese free agent in club history. Five batters in, the left-hander had surrendered four runs to the Red Sox, his pitching repertoire looking very much not ready for prime time.

By day’s end, Ogasawara’s lackluster start was only part of the equation that led to the Nats’ 6-4 loss. He was pulled during the top of the third without surrendering any more runs. His bullpen did an admirable job to keep the game within reach despite the heavy workload asked of it. The home team’s lineup, on the other hand, squandered several golden opportunities to get to Boston ace Garrett Crochet, who escaped five harrowing innings with only two runs charged to his name.

And so the Nationals were swept by the Red Sox during a three-game series in which they never once led. Today’s loss wasn’t nearly as lopsided as the two that preceded it (11-2 on Independence Day, 10-3 on Saturday) but in some ways it stung more because it appeared to be there for the taking, despite a pitching matchup that looked overwhelmingly lopsided on paper.

"We had them on the ropes there a couple of times," manager Davey Martinez said. "We just couldn't capitalize."

Ogasawara’s debut start wasn’t some kind of grand event. The Nationals didn’t leak out advance notice in an attempt to drum up interest like they have with several recent top prospects. There were several Japanese media outlets in attendance to cover the game, but nowhere close to the throngs of reporters who typically follow around the country’s top stars.

Ryan O’Hearn will have to make new friends at the All-Star Game.

The reserves and pitchers were announced today and none of the other Orioles are joining O’Hearn at Truist Park in Atlanta.

Second baseman Jackson Holliday, who went 4-for-4 with a two-run homer today in a 2-1 win over the Braves, advanced to Phase 2 of voting but didn’t have his name called.

Holliday is batting .260 with 13 doubles, two triples, 11 home runs, 36 RBIs and a .724 OPS in 82 games and has emerged as the everyday leadoff hitter. He’s only the fourth Oriole with multiple four-hit games before turning 22, joining Manny Machado and Hall of Famers Brooks Robinson and Eddie Murray.

Closer Félix Bautista, outfielder Ramón Laureano and shortstop Gunnar Henderson also appeared to have a chance at an All-Star selection.

For the first time this season, the Nationals are adjusting the order of the top of their starting rotation, giving MacKenzie Gore an extra day of rest prior to his next outing.

Jake Irvin will now start Tuesday night’s series opener against the Cardinals in St. Louis, a standard five days after the right-hander pitched Thursday against the Tigers. That bumps Gore to Wednesday night’s game at Busch Stadium, a full week following his most recent start last Wednesday against Detroit.

Gore has pitched in front of Irvin throughout the season, beginning with Opening Day, and has firmly established himself as the staff ace. But on the heels of an outing in which he had to extend himself more than usual, manager Davey Martinez thought it would be a good time to give the lefty more time than usual to recover.

“He threw 111 pitches the last outing,” Martinez said. “So this gives him an extra day to kind of recuperate a little bit.”

The swap also puts Gore in a better position to pitch in the All-Star Game, if he’s selected. (The official roster announcement is coming later this afternoon.) If Gore stayed on turn and started Tuesday, he would line up to start again next Sunday in Milwaukee in the second-half finale. Major League Baseball rules prohibit players who pitch on that day to appear in the All-Star Game two days later.

The Orioles go for their fourth sweep this morning in an 11:35 a.m. Roku game against the Braves.

Their record against the National League improved to 7-13, and they’re 1-6 in interleague series.

A win today would bring them to nine games below .500 for the first time since June 20 in New York.

Catcher Gary Sánchez left yesterday’s game with right knee discomfort and is out of today’s lineup. He underwent an MRI and the Orioles summoned David Bañuelos from Triple-A Norfolk for their medical taxi squad.

Running thin again at the position, the Orioles acquired catcher Alex Jackson from the Yankees today in exchange for international bonus pool space and a player to be named later or cash considerations.

The Orioles have made the following roster moves:

• Selected the contract of C Alex Jackson from Triple-A Norfolk. He will wear No. 70.
• Placed C Gary Sánchez (right knee sprain) on the 10-day Injured List.
• Transferred INF/OF Jorge Mateo (left hamstring strain) to the 60-day Injured List.

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

The Washington Nationals recalled left-handed pitcher Shinnosuke Ogasawara from Triple-A Rochester on Sunday and optioned right-handed pitcher Ryan Loutos to Triple-A Rochester on Saturday. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcement.

Ogasawara, 27, who will start and make his Major League debut today, is in his first season in American professional baseball after he became the first player signed by the Nationals directly from Japan on January 24, 2025. He went 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA and 24 strikeouts and six walks in 24.0 innings in six Minor League games between Triple-A Rochester, High-A Wilmington, and the FCL Nationals. In his final rehab outing on June 25, Ogasawara struck out five in 4.0 innings of two-run ball for the Wilmington Blue Rocks against the Hudson Valley Renegades (NYY).

Ogasawara pitched 6.0 innings of one run ball with six strikeouts against Lehigh Valley (PHI) in his Triple-A debut on April 1. He allowed just one run on two hits in 5.0 innings with four strikeouts 12 days later against Scranton-Wilkes Barre (NYY).

Ogasawara turned professional at 18 years old and pitched to a 54-72 record with a 3.67 ERA in nine seasons for the Chunichi Dragons of the Nippon Professional Baseball League. He was named an NPB All-Star in 2023 after he went 7-12 with a 3.59 ERA and 134 strikeouts in 160.2 innings. In his final season in the NPB in 2024, Ogasawara issued just 22 walks in 144.1 innings while pitching to a 3.12 ERA.

Loutos, 26, was 1-0 with a 9.82 ERA in 10 games for the Nationals this season.

The Orioles today announced that they have acquired minor league catcher ALEX JACKSON from the New York Yankees in exchange for international bonus pool space and a player to be named later or cash considerations.

Jackson, 29, is batting .226/.308/.463 (37-for-164) with seven doubles, one triple, 10 home runs, 31 runs scored, and 34 RBI in 44 games with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this season. He’s thrown out 26.3 percent (10-of-38) of stolen base attempts for the RailRiders.

The former No. 6 overall pick by the Seattle Mariners in the 2014 First-Year Player Draft has appeared in 124 major league games between the Atlanta Braves, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, and Tampa Bay Rays while slashing .132/.224/.232 (40-for-302) with 12 doubles, six home runs, 30 runs scored, and 24 RBI. Jackson has caught 29.1 percent (16-of-55) of would-be base stealers in his MLB career.

After signing a minor league contract with the Cincinnati Reds on November 8, 2024, he was acquired by the Yankees along with right-handed pitcher Fernando Cruz in exchange for catcher Jose Trevino on December 20, 2024. Jackson has been part of five trades in his career, including to the Marlins from the Braves in exchange for outfielder Adam Duvall on July 30, 2021.

The All-Star reserves and pitchers will be announced at 5 p.m. on ESPN, and the Orioles find out whether Ryan O’Hearn has company on his return trip to Atlanta, where they conclude a three-game series against the Braves with an 11:35 a.m. Roku start.

Most of the All-Star attention seems to be focused on second baseman Jackson Holliday, who advanced to Phase 2 in his bid to start for the American League but lost to the Tigers’ Gleyber Torres. Holliday stroked a game-tying, run-scoring single yesterday against the Braves but was in a 2-for-24 slump before the hit.

Holliday is deserving of a selection and would be a fun story as the 21-year-old former first-overall draft pick whose father, Matt, was a seven-time All-Star.

Ramón Laureano has entered the chat. He began yesterday batting .273/.341/.508 with 14 doubles and 10 home runs in 60 games, and he delivered a tie-breaking double yesterday in the 10^th inning.

He also has those seven outfield assists.

ATLANTA – Last night’s Fourth of July contest between the O’s and Braves didn’t provide many fireworks. This afternoon, though, the clubs certainly made up for it, combining for five home runs in an extra-innings thriller. 

The Orioles came out on top, 9-6. 

After facing three elite starting pitchers in Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi and Spencer Strider, it was just the performance the bats needed to get back on track. 

"I feel like our guys have swung the bat good here for the last month, and I thought today was a pretty good indication of it," Tony Mansolino said after the game. "We faced a really good Major League bullpen, a lot of left-handed pitching, that thing that’s been tough on us here over the last year-and-a-half. And after 10 innings to walk out with nine runs, you have to be pleased."

Dean Kremer was on the mound for Baltimore, looking to continue his great stretch of starts since May 1. A big key was that he needed to avoid the big inning. 

Some of the Nationals’ worst qualities converged today and made for another lopsided loss in a season that already had included too many of those.

Mitchell Parker’s propensity for early struggles was on full display. So was his continued inability to field routine comebackers toward the mound. Add some more sloppy infield defense to the mix, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a game that was well out of hand before many in the crowd of 34,319 had a chance to get settled in at Nationals Park.

This 10-3 loss to the Red Sox ranks right up there with the ugliest of the season. It’s the ninth time in 89 games the Nats have lost by seven or more runs, the third time in five games on this current homestand.

To win Sunday’s finale and avoid a sweep at the hands of Boston, they’re going to have to get a whole lot better of a performance from the pitcher they promote from their farm system to take over the rotation spot Trevor Williams held until landing on the 15-day injured list this week with a sprained elbow: Shinnosuke Ogasawara.

Manager Davey Martinez announced this evening the Japanese left-hander will be promoted from Triple-A Rochester to make his major league debut, selected over top prospect Cade Cavalli (who gave up seven runs over three innings in his most recent minor league start). Ogasawara, the first free agent the Nationals have ever signed directly out of Asia, opened the season at Triple-A but only recently returned from a two-month stint on the injured list with an oblique strain. The 27-year-old, who signed a two-year, $3.5 million contract, faces a stiff challenge in his debut.

Orioles catcher Gary Sánchez avoided a second trip to the injured list after a Gregory Soto pitch in the dirt nailed him on the finger Tuesday night at Globe Life Field.  

Can he do it again?

Sánchez exited today’s game against the Braves in the bottom of the fifth inning with right knee soreness after making a tag at the plate to end the fourth. He was in obvious pain, as shown on the MASN broadcast.

Austin Riley doubled to left field with two outs to score Ronald Acuña Jr. with the tying run. Colton Cowser retrieved the ball and fired to Gunnar Henderson, whose relay nabbed Matt Olson.

Sánchez made the sweeping tag and got his left arm tangled with Olson, which appeared to be the source of the injury. But the team identified it as his knee.

Just as they’re getting one reliever back from a major elbow surgery, the Nationals are worried another key reliever may have a serious problem with his elbow.

On the same day they activated Mason Thompson off the 60-day injured list, the Nats transferred Derek Law to the 60-day IL and revealed the veteran right-hander will be getting an MRI on his elbow after experiencing a recurrence of pain following his most recent rehab appearance.

Law has been attempting to work his way back since late March, stymied by setbacks on several occasions along the way. The 34-year-old, who made 75 appearances while totaling 90 innings as the workhorse of the Nationals bullpen last season, already was shut down a week recently before coming back to pitch for Triple-A Rochester on Wednesday.

Though that outing (one scoreless inning, one walk, one strikeout) went well, he told team officials he had a recurrence of elbow pain the next day, prompting them to shut him down again and bring him back to D.C. for a new MRI.

“I’m more concerned for him,” manager Davey Martinez said. “Because he wants to come back and help us. The big thing is to figure out what’s really going on. We thought we were over the hump there, but his elbow started barking again. We’ll go get an MRI and we’ll see what the MRI says.”

ATLANTA – Charlie Morton and Dean Kremer are in very different places in their careers. 

Morton finds himself on his sixth big league team in his age-41 season, while Kremer has only suited up in an Orioles uniform as a major leaguer in his sixth year. As far as 2025 goes, though, the duo has found their seasons traveling on a similar path, albeit with different stops along the way. 

Today, the pair can propel the Orioles to a series win over the Braves. 

Let’s start with Morton, who allowed just two earned runs in over five innings of work against his former team last night. The right-hander got off to a disastrous start to the season with a 10.89 ERA in his first five starts. 

From there, you know the story. He went to the bullpen, made some mechanical changes, and figured things out in a big way. In his seven starts back in the rotation, Morton has tossed an impressive 2.97 ERA with 44 strikeouts and just 11 walks. 

Friday morning’s game pretty much stunk for the Nationals, who were routed by the Red Sox and gave little reason for a big crowd to get excited about the home team. But if there’s anything we’ve learned about this particular group, the previous day’s result rarely seems to foretell what’s going to happen the next day. So perhaps that means the Nats are in store for a bounce back later this afternoon in the second game of the weekend series.

Mitchell Parker will need to be on point to give his team a chance, and the left-hander has generally been much better of late, allowing three or fewer runs in five of his last six starts. He’s been much better in the first inning in recent outings, with his struggles more often coming near the end of his starts. The Red Sox, for what it’s worth, have been better against lefties than righties this season.

On the flip side, the Nationals will be facing a struggling opposing starter in Walker Buehler. The veteran right-hander has a 6.45 ERA and 1.582 WHIP, having walked a career-high 4.3 batters and allowed a home run to a career-high 2.0 batters per nine innings. He hasn’t made it out of the fifth inning in four of his last five outings, with a hefty 14 walks issued in his last 11 1/3 innings.

BOSTON RED SOX 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: Sunny, 87 degrees, wind 8 mph out to left field

RED SOX
3B Nate Eaton
2B Romy Gonzalez
RF Roman Anthony
DH Rob Refsnyder
C Carlos Narváez
SS Trevor Story
LF Jarren Duran
1B Abraham Toro
CF Ceddane Rafaela