BOWIE - It is not a must-win like their game Sunday, when the season would have been over with a loss, but it's a pretty vital game for the Bowie Baysox tonight. They host Akron in Game 2 of the Double-A Northeast Championship Series. After losing here 5-1 last night, they would be in an 0-2 series hole with a loss tonight, and heading to Akron for the rest of the series. Game 3 is set for Friday night at 6:05 p.m. The Baysox, who tied with Akron for the most runs scored in the league in the...

The Orioles will take a series victory if they win at Philadelphia tonight. They have split two games at Citizens Bank Park, winning 2-0 Monday night behind John Means and losing 3-2 in 10 innings last night. The Orioles (48-103) are 1-4 on this road trip that ends tonight. They are 25-52 on the road and 7-12 versus National League teams. In their most recent games they have lost four of the last five and nine of 11 heading into the series finale. The Orioles have been struggling to score runs,...

There was a time, before July 30, when the Nationals were among the toughest teams in baseball to run on. With Yan Gomes and Alex Avila behind the plate, the Nats excelled at controlling the running game, fixing what had been a major problem area for the team the previous two seasons. Alas, Gomes is now catching in Oakland. Avila only recently returned to the active roster after a long stint on the injured list. And the club's new, young catchers haven't enjoyed anywhere close to the success...

BOWIE - As he gets set to make a playoff start tonight for the Double-A Bowie Baysox, it is obvious that right-hander Grayson Rodriguez has had a special season. He is baseball's No. 1-ranked pitching prospect for a reason, and the stats bear that out. But his teammates in Bowie will remind you he has also been a very solid teammate, and his coaches will remind you of that too. The organization also made sure he made gains this year in things like how he scouts his opponents. During a long...

With so much turbulence striking the Orioles roster this summer, there was no reason to believe that the outfield would be unaffected. And that the depth so fiercely advertised throughout the winter and spring would protect it. DJ Stewart is done for the last two weeks of the season and primed to undergo surgery on his right knee. A procedure to correct an "osteochondral defect," which also is known as "osteochondritis dissecans," which brings no clarity. Basically, it's damage to the...

The bullpen game plotted tonight by Orioles manager Brandon Hyde began to live up to its definition perhaps a bit sooner than anticipated. Conner Greene couldn't give the Orioles a second inning as the opener, his 24 pitches in a scoreless first against the Phillies beginning the parade of relievers. Marcos Diplán tossed two scoreless innings. Thomas Eshelman stranded a runner in the fourth, retired the side in order in the fifth and struck out two batters in the sixth around J.T....

For only the sixth time this season, a Nationals starter took the mound for the eighth inning, the first such instance in more than three months. The guys who had previously done it? Max Scherzer, Patrick Corbin and Joe Ross. The guy who did it tonight in Miami? Josh Rogers. Yes, that Josh Rogers. The 27-year-old dumped from the Orioles' Triple-A roster earlier this summer. The one who signed a minor league deal with the Nats and got a chance to return to the majors earlier this month to start...

BOWIE - The Bowie Baysox got an early lead tonight in Game 1 of the Double-A Northeast Championship Series. But the lead didn't hold up as the Baysox bats were silenced most of the night. Akron right-hander Peyton Battenfield allowed just one hit over seven innings as the RubberDucks beat Bowie 5-1 in the opener of the best-of-five series. Bowie will try to get even at home tomorrow night at 6:35 p.m. Battenfield was acquired by Cleveland on July 30. The Indians traded outfielder Jordan Luplow...

Carter Kieboom is not in the Nationals lineup tonight after jamming his left thumb sliding into second base in the ninth inning of Monday night's loss in Miami. "Yesterday he got beat up a little bit, hurt his thumb a little bit," manager Davey Martinez said during his pregame Zoom session with reporters. "So we're just going to give him a day. And if we need him later on, we could use him." Kieboom had a pair of tough slides during the game. He barreled into Marlins pitcher Zach Thompson...

The Orioles have placed outfielder DJ Stewart on the 60-day injured list with a right knee osteochondral defect and selected the contract of reliever César Valdez from Triple-A Norfolk. Putting Stewart on the 60-day IL created a spot for Valdez on the 40-man roster. Stewart wasn't going to return before the season ended on Oct. 3. An osteochondral defect, according to a quick Internet search, refers to a focal area of damage that involves both the cartilage and a piece of underlying bone....