DJ Stewart is in left field again today as the Orioles try to avoid a sweep against the Red Sox at Camden Yards. Ryan Mountcastle is the designated hitter. Trey Mancini is at first base after hitting his first home run last night since Sept. 28, 2019. Rio Ruiz remains at second base. Freddy Galvis has been lowered to ninth in the order. Cedric Mullins has a 12-game hitting streak dating back to last September and is the first Oriole to hit safely in the team's first eight games of the season...

It was a tough crowd on the blogs and Twitter around Birdland late last night. Blowing a late lead to the Red Sox had fans stirred up. I guess I can understand. But jumping on César Valdez because he suffered a blown save seemed a bit harsh to me. The Orioles have four wins this year. He had two saves and win in those games. His ERA was 0.00 and his WHIP was 0.923 when he took the mound last night. In his first 12 games with the Orioles, dating to last year, he was 5-for-5 in saves with an...

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde ran through five relievers last night in an extra-inning loss to the Red Sox. Dillon Tate wasn't intended to be among them, his rest period ruined by circumstances. César Valdez fumbled a save opportunity and Tate was handed the ball in the 10th. He retired one batter, on a fly ball from Kiké Hernandez that pushed center fielder Cedric Mullins near the fence. A wild pitch broke the tie. Back-to-back walks sent Tate to the dugout. Christian Vázquez's...

Patrick Corbin talked about the benefits of getting stretched out and admitted that his sinker lacked its usual bite. If not for the fact that he was facing the defending world champion Dodgers, he could have been critiquing a spring training start where pitchers are more focused on getting their work in than anything results-oriented.Corbin got his pitches in, totaling 80 and pitching into the fifth inning of his 2021 debut for the Nationals on Saturday night. But the left-hander struggled...

A major league debut played in an empty ballpark last summer felt strange to Orioles left-hander Bruce Zimmermann. An occasion to celebrate, but without a guest list. Tonight's start was like a party with family and friends. Dozens of them. The Orioles could have moved the game to his parents' backyard. Either way, there's good barbeque. The Baltimore native and Loyola Blakefield graduate received a huge ovation upon his introduction and again after striking out Red Sox cleanup hitter...

By the time he arrived in the major leagues with the Cubs in 1986, Davey Martinez was playing on teams that had transformed their benches, ditching the traditional third catcher for a more versatile player or an extra bullpen arm. But for a couple of generations, most clubs carried three catchers on what was then a 25-man roster. Most times, one backstop was a bat-first guy, the second could both hit and play defense, and the third was pretty much a defensive specialist. Though as the game...

Thanks to a simulated game thrown Wednesday at the alternate training site in Fredericksburg, Va., left-hander Patrick Corbin won't be on a short leash tonight when he makes his first start of the season against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. "We'll keep close eyes on him, but the last time he threw in a sim game in Fredericksburg, he threw 45 pitches, he went three innings," Nationals manager Davey Martinez said in his pregame Zoom with reporters. "So we're hoping to get maybe five innings,...

The Washington Nationals announced the following roster moves on Saturday. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcements. · Reinstated left-handed pitcher Patrick Corbin from the Injured List. · Optioned right-handed pitcher Kyle McGowin and added him to the Taxi Squad. · Returned infielder Adrián Sanchez to the Alternate Training Site (Fredericksburg).

With Thursday's home opener loss behind them and with a 1-3 record since a 3-0 start, the Orioles host the Boston Red Sox tonight. The Sox won 7-3 Thursday in the series opener, ending a four-game losing streak to the Orioles. Through Friday's games, the Orioles and Boston were tied for first in the American League East at 4-3, with New York and Tampa Bay one game back at 3-4 and Toronto 1 1/2 games out at 3-5. This afternoon those standings changed when Tampa Bay blanked the Yankees on a...

Orioles outfielder DJ Stewart wanted to surprise his wife Brooke on the drive to the ballpark today, allowing her to think they were going to the secondary training site in Bowie instead of Camden Yards. A fun way to break the news that the Orioles reinstated him from the injured list. Risky, too, unless you know your audience. "She's like, 'Hey, we're going in a completely different direction. Where are we going?' And I was like, 'We're going to Baltimore,'" Stewart recounted today in...