BOWIE - Led by a recent run of strong pitching, the Double-A Bowie Baysox have reeled off nine straight wins. Tonight, they send their ace to the mound here as they look to take another big step toward wrapping up a playoff berth in the Northeast. Two teams will make the league's best-of-five championship series next week, and Bowie holds the No. 2 spot heading into tonight's games. .623 - Akron (71-43) .609 - Bowie (70-45) .605 - Somerset (69-45) If Bowie keeps winning, the Baysox will be in...

The Orioles will try to end a four-game losing streak with Trey Mancini staying in the lineup and Pedro Severino removed from it. Mancini came out of last night's game after one plate appearance with right abdominal soreness. Severino struggled to get up the first base line on a double play grounder in the sixth inning due to soreness in his leg/groin area, and Austin Wynns replaced him. Mancini is the first Oriole to walk in eight consecutive games since Brian Roberts in 2009. Ryan...

Davey Martinez won't be able to walk up the dugout steps and stand on the field for today's national anthem. After a follow-up procedure on his left ankle Tuesday, the Nationals manager remains in a cast and will again need to watch today's game from a perch in the dugout (preferably in the shade on this hot and muggy afternoon). Those who can see Martinez, though, surely will notice the special jersey he's wearing, with the number 21 on the back in honor of Roberto Clemente. For the second...

In the first two games of their four-game losing streak, in a doubleheader on Saturday against Toronto, the Orioles led before losing. But they have fallen behind big in the last two losses and will look to reverse that tonight when hosting the New York Yankees. The Orioles trailed 16-4 after the third inning Sunday on their way to a 22-7 loss to the Blue Jays. And they trailed 5-0 after the third last night in losing the series opener 7-2 to the Yankees. New York right-hander Gerrit Cole got...

The nexus of the universe stands at the corner of South Capitol Street and Potomac Avenue SE this afternoon, where both the Nationals and Marlins will be sending left-handed pitchers to the mound named Rogers. OK, so this is hardly cosmos-bending stuff, but it is a funny little quirk about the matchup for today's series finale at Nationals Park. Josh Rogers gets the start for the Nats, his third since his promotion from Triple-A Rochester. And he's been pretty good in each of his previous two...

Ryan Zimmerman produced the most memorable hit of Tuesday night's 8-2 win over the Marlins when he launched a fastball from Jesús Luzardo 442 feet to right-center field, into the second deck at Nationals Park. But Zimmerman's presence in the lineup was made possible in part by Josh Bell's ability to remain in the lineup himself while moving out to left field for the night. It was the fourth game Bell has started in the outfield this season, and he may be back there today when the...

Just as in Sunday's game, the Orioles fell behind early last night in the series opener with the Yankees. They didn't give up 16 runs early on, but they were behind 5-0 in the third inning in what would turn into a 7-2 loss. The Orioles (46-98) have allowed 51 runs and 18 homers in losing the past four games. They didn't homer last night, but the Orioles have hit eight over the last four games and 11 in the past five. The Orioles have homered at least three times in three of their last five...

Alexander Wells trailed by two runs tonight just two batters into his latest start with the Orioles. The first three batters produced three hits. The flashbacks to the past three games, with 44 runs surrendered, were blinding. It never got that bad. There was no need to begin researching past records within the organization or the league. But the Orioles assumed the position and fell again on hard times. Wells followed a scoreless second inning by serving up back-to-back home runs in the third,...

The perk of a last-place team being able to audition and evaluate younger players while looking ahead to next spring training crumbles with each injury. The Orioles won't win any Gold Gloves for catching breaks. Jorge López made a good impression as a reliever, but only for eight games before a sprained ankle put him on the shelf for the remainder of the season. A freakish injury sustained while performing the routine task of covering first base on a ground ball. Jorge Mateo appeared in 32...

Nobody in a Nationals uniform gets a bigger ovation when he steps to the plate these days than Ryan Zimmerman. He's far from the team's best player at this point, but with only three home series remaining on the 2021 schedule, everyone in attendance is well aware there are only so many more guaranteed Zimmerman plate appearances to witness. The original face of the franchise has not yet offered any clues about his intentions beyond this season, though he suggested tonight he probably won't...