Trey Mancini is in the lineup again tonight at first base against the Yankees after hitting his first home run of the spring last night. Richie Martin and DJ Stewart are marked absent again. Ramón Urias is starting at second base and Freddy Galvis at shortstop. Cedric Mullins is in center field, Austin Hays in left and Anthony Santander in right. Manager Brandon Hyde wants to start playing his regulars in consecutive games. Rio Ruiz is the designated hitter and Pat Valaika is the third...

Wander Suero has thrown 2,360 pitches in his major league career, and 1,762 of them have been cutters. That's just a shade under 75 percent. Yes, three out of every four pitches he throws are cutters. Ask him why so many, and the Nationals reliever smiles and responds in English for the first time in a long Zoom session with reporters earlier this week: "It's my best pitch." That it is. Suero has spent most of the last three seasons in the majors because his cutter - when thrown well and...

It might surprise some to learn that Orioles catcher Chance Sisco was a better-than-league-average hitter in 2020. While his batting average was .214, an OBP of .364 led to a .741 OPS. That was five percent better than the league and better than teammates Cedric Mullins and Austin Hays. For the year, just five Orioles topped that number. But Sisco, 26, is still trying to find the consistent success on offense in the majors that he had on the farm. He was the 2016 O's Minor League Player of the...

Stephen Strasburg's return from a strained left calf didn't come in an official game, but that's about the only detail of today's outing that was less than ideal. Pitching in a simulated game against teammates prior to the Nationals' Grapefruit League contest versus the Astros, Strasburg went five innings and threw 74 pitches, according to information provided by the club. Both numbers represented a step up from what manager Davey Martinez said he was expecting going into the simulated...

If it's too early to make final calls on the Orioles' 26-man roster, the same rule should apply to the opening day lineup. The mind starts to work on it with the announcement that the Red Sox are starting left-hander Eduardo Rodríguez on April 1 at Fenway Park. Begin building the right-handed order. The Orioles could go left-on-left from the leadoff spot with center fielder Cedric Mullins abandoning switch-hitting. He homered off a southpaw last night, but also was batting ninth. They...

Trey Mancini wasn't going to become a singles hitter in 2021. He's getting back into baseball shape and still trying to tap into the power that was so prevalent two years ago. Mancini collected his first extra-base hit tonight and it was a long home run to left-center field off the Pirates' Edgar Santana in the fourth inning in the Orioles' sloppy 11-9 win in Bradenton. Santana threw six consecutive sliders to Mancini and the last hung over the plate and was tattooed. It sounded loud on the...

Orioles right-hander Dean Kremer had allowed just one run in six innings in his previous two spring starts. He looked headed for another good outing tonight until the Pittsburgh Pirates struck quickly after two were out in the third. Then a few misadventures on defense didn't help his cause, as he failed to get through the fourth inning. Kremer went 3 1/3 innings, allowing five hits and five runs with two walks and three strikeouts. He threw 71 pitches, 42 for strikes, and got nine swings and...

The anticipated became official this afternoon. The Orioles are starting left-hander John Means on opening day against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Means has been expected to take the ball on April 1, but manager Brandon Hyde waited until today to announce it. If at first you don't succeed ... Means was supposed to start the 2020 opener in Boston, but had to work through some shoulder fatigue. Veteran Tommy Milone was named the surprise starter. Hyde gave Means the news a couple of days...

Will Harris is leaving camp to be examined by a specialist in St. Louis after a blood clot was discovered in his right arm, a potentially serious condition for the veteran right-hander and one that could test a Nationals bullpen that likely won't be as deep on opening night as projected only a few weeks ago. "It's hard, because medically I don't know the extent of what that is," manager Davey Martinez said in a Zoom session with reporters this afternoon. "But I know it's something that...

As they attempt to get every member of their projected rotation the work they need on the day they need it to stay on schedule, the Nationals left themselves with a hole for tonight's exhibition game against the Astros. It's Stephen Strasburg's day to pitch, but the veteran right-hander instead is throwing a simulated game this afternoon so club officials can keep him in a more controlled environment as he tests out his strained left calf. And with Jon Lester having started against the Mets...