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...

As the Orioles look to cut down on their mounting strikeout totals, perhaps the thing they can rely on most of all is track record. Several of their players that are striking out a lot right now show strikeout rates more in line with league average or less, both recently and over their careers. That can provide some hope for a club that has fanned 10 or more times in six consecutive games and 13 or more times in a new major league-record five straight games. After they struck out seven times...

Outfielder DJ Stewart has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list and is in the Orioles lineup tonight and playing left field as they resume their first home series against the Red Sox. Stewart hit two home runs in eight spring at-bats before straining his left hamstring on March 5 against the Blue Jays in Dunedin. He's been working out at the alternate training site in Bowie. Ryan Mountcastle is the designated hitter tonight, Rio Ruiz is playing second base and Chance Sisco is...

Left-hander Patrick Corbin has been reinstated from the COVID-19 injured list and will start tonight's game against the Dodgers, hoping to help the Nationals snap a three-game losing streak during which they've been unable to score for the past 16 innings. Corbin was one of nine players placed on the injured list as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak that spread through the team. He's had mixed results in his career against the Dodgers, posting a 5-9 record through 21 games, including 19...

Victor Robles' attempt to steal second base during the top of the eighth Friday afternoon in Los Angeles was ill-advised, as both the Nationals center fielder and his manager conceded following their 1-0 loss to the Dodgers. As Robles correctly noted, in getting caught trying to swipe second with runners on the corners and nobody out, he failed to recognize who was coming to bat behind him: Trea Turner, Juan Soto and Ryan Zimmerman. Especially Soto, who was in the on-deck circle at the time as...