If one of the Orioles' goals tonight was to get right-hander Dean Kremer back on track, they did that. But could his strong outing lead to a win in the series opener at Seattle? It was a night where Seattle went with a bullpen game. And that actually was not great news for the Orioles. The Mariners bullpen began the game first in the majors in 'pen ERA at 2.30 and second in WHIP and batting average against. And for seven innings, five Mariners pitchers kept the Orioles off the board. And...

Throughout their 60-game season last summer and the first month of this season, when the Nationals needed to add a player to their big league roster they simply sent word to their alternate training site in Fredericksburg and waited for the player to make the short drive up Interstate 95 to Nationals Park. It was, under the circumstances, the safest way to make transactions while playing through a pandemic. No more. Beginning today, all major league clubs will have the ability to call players...

Adley Rutschman is going to catch DL Hall tonight in Double-A Bowie's opener in Altoona, Pa. He's going to catch a lot of guys. He's the starter and he's lauded throughout the industry for his arm, defensive skills and leadership. But he won't be limited to one position. The Orioles want Rutschman to get some work at first base to keep his bat in the lineup while also giving him a break from the beatings sustained behind the plate. Rutschman played 36 games at first base in his three...

Removing one player from tonight's Orioles lineup led to a massive shuffling of personnel. Outfielder DJ Stewart is a late scratch due to stiffness in his lower back. Manager Brandon Hyde said Stewart is receiving treatment and is "kind of day-to-day right now." When the dust settled, Pat Valaika wound up at second base rather than sitting on the bench among three reserves. Rio Ruiz moved from second base to third and Maikel Franco is the designated hitter, with Trey Mancini at first base...

Right-hander Grayson Rodriguez might be the Orioles' highest-ranked pitching prospect. But left-hander DL Hall is not far behind. And now armed with a fastball that touches 100 mph and what he believes is improved command, the 22-year-old Hall will make his Double-A debut tonight. He's on the mound when the Bowie Baysox play at Altoona on opening night. In the most current national rankings, Baseball America rates Rodriguez No. 18 on its top 100 list, with Hall No. 52. MLBPipeline.com ranks...

The West Coast road trip continues at T-Mobile Park tonight when the Orioles play the Seattle Mariners to start a three-game series. The Orioles (13-15) took two of three over the weekend at Oakland. Seattle (16-13) won two of three from the Los Angeles Angels. The Mariners are 5-2-2 in series play this year and 8-6 at home. They are 14-8 in their last 22 games, a stretch that includes a four-game series in Baltimore where they won three of four games. When these clubs last played on April 15,...

Rio Ruiz, who had a pinch-hit double yesterday in Oakland, is starting at second base tonight for the series opener against the Mariners in Seattle. Ryan Mountcastle is starting at first base. He's hit safely in seven straight games, going 9-for-26 (.346). Trey Mancini is 9-for-28 (.321) with six RBIs in his last seven games. He's the designated hitter. Pedro Severino, who's catching tonight, is 6-for-18 (.333) in his last five games. He's reached base in 10 straight. Freddy Galvis is in...

Just when he was starting to hit on a team that could have used some offense, new Orioles shortstop Freddy Galvis had to miss four games. He suffered a sore left adductor/groin on April 26 against the New York Yankees. But he was back in the lineup over the weekend, starting at short for the last two games of the series at Oakland. "I think it was like little by little," Galvis said via Zoom of that issue that kept him briefly on the bench. " After we came from Texas and Miami, where they...

Buck Britton knows what's coming. Adley Rutschman knows what's coming. The celebrated return of Minor League Baseball should set off nightly fireworks in Bowie with Rutschman, the top prospect in the Orioles organization and rated among the best in baseball, doing most of the catching in his first full professional season. The attention is going to be intense. It won't worry or distract Rutschman or his manager. "Obviously, I was never at that hype. I was always Zack's brother coming up,...

It's been an astounding 20 months since official Minor League Baseball games were last played, an interminable length of time for prospects, staff members, and fans in communities large and small across America to wait since the end of the 2019 season. Suffice it to say, there are a lot of eager folks right now on the eve of a long-awaited 2021 opening day. "It's going to be an exciting day tomorrow for everyone involved," Mark Scialabba, the Nationals' assistant general manager for player...