Once was perhaps cause for concern but potentially forgivable. Twice is cause for alarm and potentially disastrous for a Nationals club that is built to win behind a dominant rotation but has now seen two of its top three starters get rocked in the last week, one of them twice. Stephen Strasburg, for the moment, isn't the Nats' greatest concern. Patrick Corbin is after another cringe-inducing start tonight in which the left-hander was battered for 10 runs in only two innings during a 11-6...

The starters need to get deeper into games. The bullpen needs to get more outs. The defense needs to tighten. A team doesn't slide into last place if these three areas are secured. But there may not be a heavier weight dragging down the Orioles than a light-hitting lineup. The Orioles went 7-for-47 (.149) in yesterday's doubleheader and scored only three runs while being swept by the Mariners. They've registered a .218 average in 13 games, the sixth-lowest in the majors as they boarded their...

Major League Baseball is a taking a distance that was kind of sacred in baseball and changing it later this year. Not in the American League or the National League, but in August in the independent Atlantic League. That is when 60 feet, six inches becomes 61 feet, six inches. MLB will experiment with one of its partner leagues when its second half starts Aug. 3. The pitching rubber will be moved back one foot in the Atlantic League. This is expected to lead to more balls put in play, fewer...

The comparisons and contrasts keep jabbing at the Orioles like heavyweight fighters. Sticking and moving, sticking and moving. And there's the occasional big blow that sends them to the canvas again. Rio Ruiz strikes out to end the second inning, flips his bat to the ground, drops his helmet and gloves and walks away from the pile in disgust. Seattle's Dylan Moore leads off the next inning and hits a home run on the first pitch thrown by Bruce Zimmermann. Mariners starter Justin Dunn strikes...

Orioles right-hander Matt Harvey gave up just two runs and lefty Bruce Zimmermann gave up just two as well. But neither pitcher would get a win in today's doubleheader against Seattle. And neither would the Orioles, who scored just three runs over two games and 14 innings. They fall twice to Seattle today by scores of 4-2 in the first game and 2-1 in the second. Now they head to Texas for a series that begins on Friday. In the first game, Harvey was pounding his fastball, throwing it 64...

When Asdrúbal Cabrera was picked up by the Nationals in early August 2019, he figured he'd finish out the season in D.C. and then probably call it a career. "I told my family: Probably this is going to be my last three months," the veteran infielder said today during a Zoom session with reporters. "I'm just going to try to have fun here and see what happens. And we made it to the World Series, and we won the World Series. "I'm never going to forget that year." Neither will Nationals...

After an eventful road trip, the Nationals are back home tonight and will be here each of the next seven days. First up, it's a four-game weekend series with the Diamondbacks. Then it's three more with the Cardinals. And with capacity restrictions eased up for this homestand, there should be roughly 10,000 fans in the park now, which will be much appreciated by everyone. Tonight's opener against the Diamondbacks represents an important start for Patrick Corbin, who labored in his delayed...

The rotation is motoring through its third turn in 2021. Traveling a road that hasn't appeared on any map, with the baseball season accelerating from 60 to 162 games. Potholes can look like canyons. The Orioles are packing 14 pitchers for the early portion of their trip as needed protection, uncertain how many innings can be handled by their starters and unwilling to risk injury or any semblance of strain. Only John Means and rookie Bruce Zimmermann (twice) have been able or allowed to...

The 54 pitches thrown by Dean Kremer in Tuesday's doubleheader may not preclude him from starting again on short rest in Texas. Manager Brandon Hyde is listing Saturday's starter as TBD, but Kremer is a possibility. Kremer worked three innings in Tuesday's second game. "We're considering Dean, as well as some other options," Hyde said this morning in his Zoom call with the media. "We're going to talk it over a little bit more today and tomorrow, just because he only threw 54 pitches and...

The Orioles brought up reliever Cole Sulser from their secondary training site to serve today as the 27th man in the doubleheader against the Mariners at Camden Yards that closes out the first homestand. Sulser was optioned to make room for reliever Shawn Armstrong on the active roster. He threw two scoreless innings with three strikeouts in his only appearance. The switch in opposing starters for the opener returns Trey Mancini to the lineup. He was excluded yesterday before the...