When Juan Soto steps to the plate these days, he does so with one task in mind: Get on base. Don't worry about hitting a ball 450 feet somewhere. Just do whatever it takes to reach, whether via single, walk or some other mechanism. And he's done quite well in that department, with a .396 on-base percentage that ranks among the league leaders. "Yeah, that's what I'm trying to do," Soto said Monday during a face-to-face interview with several reporters at Nationals Park. "Like I told the...

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde spun his lineup again tonight in an attempt to find the right combination. A group that can make plays in the field and generate runs. Perhaps run with an opportunity. Locating strike-throwers also is on the agenda. The shuffling in the rotation is happening now in the infield with the arrivals of Domingo Leyba and Ramón Urías. They started again tonight, with Urías at short and Leyba switching from second base to third base. Slumps and health factor into...

The injury to shortstop Freddy Galvis, a strained quadriceps muscle in his right leg perhaps keeping him out of the lineup for the next two months, opened another door that Richie Martin couldn't walk through. Martin missed the 2020 season with a fractured right wrist, an injury sustained while playing in an intrasquad game at summer training camp at Camden Yards. Meanwhile, shortstop José Iglesias was in and out of the lineup because of an aching left quadriceps. Surgery to remove a broken...

As the balls flew off the bats of Kyle Schwarber (twice), Trea Turner and Gerardo Parra, and as Paolo Espino was carving up the Mets for five scoreless innings, the mood inside of Nationals Park was ... well, how exactly to describe this? Was it ecstasy? Was it delirium? Was it some emotion that has yet to be defined, because nobody in attendance had ever witnessed anything quite like this on a baseball field in a long time? And then how to describe the vibe as the Nationals bullpen turned a...

ABERDEEN - For a player who was not even drafted last year, first baseman JD Mundy is having some first season of professional baseball. After a college career that took him to Virginia Tech for two years and then to Radford for two more, the Roanoke, Va., native leads the Orioles organization on the farm in homers, slugging and OPS. The player taken 1/1 in the 2019 draft, Double-A Bowie catcher Adley Rutschman, is second to Mundy in homers and OPS this season. So, yeah, pretty good for the...

After losing three of four games in Buffalo against the Toronto Blue Jays, the Orioles have arrived at the second stop on a three-city, 10-game trip. They play at Houston tonight to start a three-game series against the first-place Astros. The Orioles (24-54) beat the Blue Jays Friday night, 6-5 in 10 innings, but lost 12-4 and 5-2 the last two days. They started the season by winning 11 of 17 on the road, but are now 1-22 in the last 23 road contests. That makes them 12-28 for the year in road...

Victor Robles is out of the Nationals lineup, his right knee still bothering him enough to keep him from starting against the Mets one day after he was struck by a pitch in Miami. It was not bothering the 24-year-old center fielder enough, though, to keep him from participating in batting practice, suggesting he may not need to miss much time. Robles took a full round of BP with teammates, and though he wasn't moving around at full strength, he didn't appear to be significantly...

Domingo Leyba is playing third base tonight as the Orioles open a three-game series in Houston. Maikel Franco and Anthony Santander are on the bench. Austin Hays is in right field and batting second, Ryan McKenna is in left and Ramón Urías is playing shortstop. Pat Valaika gets the start at second base. Urías has a seven-game hitting streak that was interrupted by his return to Triple-A Norfolk. He's 8-for-16 with a double, home run and six RBIs during the streak. Leyba went 0-for-4...

Tickets for the 2021 Orioles Hall of Fame luncheon, honoring shortstop J.J. Hardy, outfielder Mike Devereaux, broadcaster Joe Angel, and superfan Mo Gaba, are now on sale. The inductees will be guests at a luncheon at Oriole Park at Camden Yards sponsored by the Oriole Advocates, founders of the Orioles Hall of Fame, on Friday, August 6, at 12:00 p.m. ET, as well as during an on-field ceremony prior to the Orioles game on Saturday, August 7, against the Tampa Bay Rays. Tickets for the luncheon...

And so begins the closing stretch of the first half of the 2021 season, a stretch that will test the Nationals unlike any that have come before. Fourteen games in 14 days, all against contending teams. It begins tonight with a one-off against the Mets, another makeup from the season-opening series that was postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The great mystery for the last 24 hours has been the identity of the Nats' starting pitcher tonight. This should've been Erick Fedde's game, but...