The trio got the biggest honors on the Orioles farm when the awards were announced by the club Sunday afternoon. Catcher Adley Rutschman and outfielder Kyle Stowers were co-winners of the Brooks Robinson Minor League Player of the Year Award. Pitcher Grayson Rodriguez was a clear choice to take the Jim Palmer Minor League Pitcher of the Year Award. Honors well deserved after each has had a great season. Rutschman has played 118 games between Double-A Bowie and Triple-A Norfolk, batting...

Condense this lost season for the Nationals down to one issue, one reason above all else to explain why this organization is where it finds itself today with one week to go until a long winter, and the answer is obvious: Pitching. It's all about the pitching. It's always been about the pitching. And until something is done about the pitching, it's hard to envision the franchise's rebuilding efforts taking a significant step forward. Today's 9-2 loss to the Reds was merely the latest...

Anthony Santander provided the first hit for the Orioles today with a game-tying, two-run homer in the fourth inning. It wasn't supposed to take that long or stand alone until the seventh. John Means was extended to 108 pitches. They weren't supposed to be crammed into five innings. An offense that scored three runs or fewer in five of the last six games remained sluggish most of the day and the Orioles settled for a split of the series after a 7-4 loss to the Rangers before 13,495 at Camden...

The Orioles have chosen catcher Adley Rutschman and outfielder Kyle Stowers as their Brooks Robinson Minor League Co-Players of the Year and Grayson Rodriguez as recipient of the Jim Palmer Minor League Pitcher of the Year Award. The trio will be honored in a pregame ceremony before Tuesday night's game against the Red Sox at Camden Yards. Rutschman, the first-overall pick in the 2019 draft out of Oregon State University and the No. 1 prospect in baseball, earned a promotion to Triple-A...

Riley Adams has done just about everything the Nationals could've asked of him since joining the club following his acquisition from the Blue Jays. The 25-year-old catcher enters today's series finale in Cincinnati batting .288 with a .420 on-base percentage and .920 OPS in 81 plate appearances, with nine extra-base hits to his name. So how is it that he's in the lineup today for the first time in 11 days? That's where it gets a bit complicated. Adams, for all he's shown to date, is not...

Cedric Mullins is out of the Orioles lineup again this afternoon, though available to pinch-hit, due to a sore hamstring. Mullins should be able to return Tuesday night after Monday's off-day. Ryan McKenna is leading off and playing center field. Austin Hays, with an 11-game hitting streak, is in left field and batting third. Kelvin Gutiérrez, who homered last night, has a hit in eight of his last nine games since Sept. 17. He's 10-for-30 during that span and starting at third base again...

During a year when the Orioles have just 11 series wins, they have only four at home. With a win today, they would take three of four in this series against Texas, producing their fifth home series victory. They are 4-15-5 in home series this year. They won at home two of three May 31-June 2 versus Minnesota and two of three June 4-6 against Cleveland. They swept three from Washington at Camden Yards July 23-25 and took two of three from the Los Angeles Angels from Aug. 24-26. Since that series...

The Nationals won't be winning back-to-back series. That possibility flew out the window with back-to-back, walk-off losses in Cincinnati the last two nights. But they do have a chance to salvage a four-game split if they can win today's series finale over the Reds. They would certainly love to get another quality start out of Josh Rogers, who has been an absolute revelation since his arrival earlier this month. The left-hander has made four starts so far and has gone 2-0 with a 2.16 ERA....

It is a stretch that includes a one-inning outing from an opener and three-inning outing last night. But Orioles starting pitchers have thrown to a 1.38 ERA over their last six games. And that has allowed the team to go 3-3 in those games, even though they scored just 18 runs in this span. Suddenly, the Orioles are playing some low-scoring, close games. They won one 3-2 last night, holding off the Texas Rangers, who scored one run in the ninth and not five this time. It made a difference. In...

Keibert Ruiz joined the Nationals at the trade deadline as a prospect with a reputation for being undeniably toolsy. His offense took a while to get going, but both his bat and his defense were on full display Saturday night in a 7-6 loss to the Reds. Ruiz threw out two runners on the bases, one of which took the Reds out of a bigger inning, and his one-out solo homer in the seventh snapped a 5-all standoff. It was the second night in a row that Ruiz went deep, and the rookie backstop is now...