The Orioles closed out their road trip yesterday with the bullpen tossing 3 1/3 scoreless innings. One inherited runner crossed the plate in a 3-0 loss to the Marlins. Relievers began the day with a 3.55 ERA that ranked sixth in the American League and eighth in the majors. Opponents were batting .228. They left Miami with the ERA down to 3.38. Cole Sulser was responsible for the inherited runner scoring on Adam Duvall's two-out single, but he hasn't allowed a run of his own in 4 1/3 innings...

Orioles catcher Pedro Severino and manager Brandon Hyde gave rookie pitcher Bruce Zimmermann the same encouraging, and perhaps consoling, pat on the backside today - in rapid succession as if rehearsed - after he handed over the baseball and turned toward the dugout. Zimmermann sat on the bench expressionless in the fifth inning, staring straight ahead, as captured by the MASN cameras. He could have been thinking about the elevated fastball that Jesús Aguilar lined into left-center field for...

If you are a starting pitcher and your team has not scored you any runs, your margin for error is not minimal, it's zero. One mistake could cost you. That happened today to Baltimorean Bruce Zimmermann. The left-hander was twirling a shutout in a 0-0 tie at Miami when one pitch that got drilled into the gap led to a three-run inning and the Marlins went on to beat the Orioles. Another attempt to get back to .500 came up short as the Orioles fell 3-0. They went 3-2 on this road trip and come...

Juan Soto can't pinpoint any precise moment when he thinks he hurt his left shoulder. It just started bothering him in recent days, especially when throwing, so he let the Nationals training staff know and they had him undergo an MRI on Tuesday morning. Little could the 22-year-old slugger have imagined he'd wind up on the 10-day injured list several hours later with a diagnosed shoulder strain. Since that moment, Soto has tried not to stress over this development and instead think about the...

After everything that's happened in the last 48 hours, would you believe the Nationals have a chance today to win their season series against the Cardinals? Yep, they enter this afternoon's finale at Nationals Park with a 3-2 record against St. Louis over the last week, and a win in this one would wrap it up. At worst, they'll split the six-game season series. (Side note: How ridiculous is it that these teams are done playing each other for the regular season on April 21?) Max Scherzer gets...

The Orioles placed outfielder Anthony Santander on the 10-day injured list this morning with a sprained left ankle and recalled rookie Ryan McKenna from the alternate training site. McKenna never left the team after yesterday's option. He's back on the active roster and in right field today in Miami after Santander injured the ankle last night while going back to first base on a pickoff attempt. X-rays and a later MRI were negative, with no fracture in the ankle. But Hyde said this type of...

The Orioles wrap up this quick two-game series and their five-game, two-city road trip this afternoon when they again play the Miami Marlins. The Orioles won 7-5 last night and are 3-1 on this trip, which began in Texas. The Orioles are now 3-3 in series openers, and a win today would leave them 3-1 in road series. Lefty Bruce Zimmermann (1-1, 4.24 ERA) gets the start, his fourth of this season. Zimmermann has two quality starts and has gone six innings twice. For the season, he's allowed 17...

Uplifting as the Nationals' 3-2 victory over the Cardinals on Tuesday night was, it could not erase the fact Juan Soto is now on the injured list and a ballclub already dealing with more issues than it ever thought possible in late April has another one to contend with. The transaction to place Soto on the 10-day IL with a left shoulder strain caught everyone off guard. It came about 45 minutes before first pitch of the game, about three hours after the Nats announced a lineup that originally...

The Orioles will go for a two-game series sweep this afternoon and will have a 4-1 road trip if they can get another win at Miami. They took an early 6-1 lead last night and held on to win 7-5. They improved to 8-9 overall and to 7-3 in road games. They are 19-18 on the road since the start of the 2020 season. They are now 5-1 when they score first and 7-2 when they score four runs or more. On a night when he didn't have his best stuff or command, right-hander Matt Harvey managed to not walk...

The Orioles get Austin Hays back on the roster yesterday and lose Anthony Santander a few hours later. Two players just trying to make it through a season healthy. Neither injury is regarded as serious. Hays had a mild right hamstring strain, Santander sprained his left ankle. Hays knew he'd go on the injured list, but wouldn't miss much time. Santander had to be carried off the field, which suggested a possible break or torn tendon. A sprain is cause for celebration. Especially after X-rays...