An inexperienced pitching staff is going to make mistakes. Davey Martinez understands and accepts that. What the Nationals manager has a harder time accepting is a pitching staff that is killing itself not by getting hit by more accomplished hitters, but by handing them free bases over and over and over. It happened during Saturday's loss in Milwaukee, and it happened in even more mind-numbing fashion during today's 7-3 loss to the Brewers. Five Nationals pitchers combined to issue 11 walks...

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde didn't want starter John Means putting too much pressure on himself to end a 17-game streak. The majors are hard enough without creating ways for it to grow more challenging. "I felt like he did last time a little bit in his last start," Hyde said early this afternoon. "Just want him to go out and pitch his game and hopefully he gives us a chance to win." There's no chance if you don't score. The odds improve just a little if it's one run. Means coasted into...

The Washington Nationals made the following roster moves on Sunday. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcements. · Returned from rehabilitation assignment and reinstated right-handed pitcher Kyle McGowin from the 10-day Injured List · Returned from rehabilitation assignment and reinstated right-handed pitcher Austin Voth from the Injured List · Designated right-handed pitcher Javy Guerra for assignment · Optioned outfielder...

An ever-changing Nationals bullpen saw the return of two familiar right-handers today, with both Austin Voth and Kyle McGowin activated off the injured list. And an ever-changing Nats roster saw the departures of two familiar faces as a result, with Javy Guerra designated for assignment while Andrew Stevenson was optioned to Triple-A Rochester. The transactions, announced about 90 minutes before today's series finale in Milwaukee, give the Nationals a couple of moderately experienced arms, in...

The Nationals' winning streak ended Saturday in Milwaukee, but they've still got a chance to win the weekend series if they can bounce back in this afternoon's finale. All things considered, that's not a bad position to be in. They're going to need to get some quality innings out of Sean Nolin, who gets the start as Joe Ross' replacement for now. Nolin, the 31-year-old journeyman left-hander, made one other start for the Nats 10 days ago in New York and gave up four runs on eight hits in...

The Orioles need a win today at home against Atlanta to avoid another three-game sweep and to snap a 17-game losing streak. First-place Atlanta has taken the first two games in this series by 3-0 and 5-4 scores. The Orioles hit four solo homers last night. Before this, the last time they hit four in a game was actually their last win: Aug. 2 against New York at Yankee Stadium. Last night Anthony Santander connected for his first two homers of the year batting right-handed. He hit his 11th from...

The Orioles will try to snap a 17-game losing streak this afternoon and avoid their 16th sweep of the season while closing out their series against the Braves. DJ Stewart, who's receiving treatment for a sore knee, is in left field today. Ramón Urías is the third baseman and Jorge Mateo is playing second base. Anthony Santander is in right field and batting cleanup. John Means is making his first career start against the Braves. His ERA is a season-high 3.44 after he allowed four earned...

As the Orioles' losing streak reached 16 Friday night, the team was remaining upbeat pregame in the clubhouse and keeping their energy and work ethic up amid mounting losses. Media is not allowed back in big league clubhouses yet, so we'll take manager Brandon Hyde's word for it. But that was the experience I had in 2019. The Orioles were losing games, but maintaining a positive attitude then as they are now, which cannot be easy to do. "I give our guys a ton of credit," Hyde said before...

The Orioles don't know who's starting Wednesday night against the Angels. Their game notes this morning are likely to list the spot as TBD or TBA. Has to be determined before it can be announced. No matter who's inserted into the rotation, they did the right thing by shifting Jorge López to the bullpen. Anyone watching his last start could see that he isn't right. His velocity was down and he just appeared to be flinging the ball to the plate. López insisted that he wasn't hurt,...

Coming into this contest against the Atlanta Braves, the Orioles had not played a game decided by one run since they beat Detroit 4-3 on July 30. During a long losing streak, they had lost every game by two or more runs. Mid-game tonight they were locked in a tight game, but would it still be that way at the finish? It would remain close, and after leading by one early in the game and trailing by one in the fifth, the Orioles went to the ninth down 5-3. Anthony Santander's second homer of the...