Right-hander Thomas Eshelman is starting the first game of today's doubleheader against the Yankees. Eshelman is the replacement for veteran Alex Cobb, who's on the injured list for protocol reasons. The Orioles don't offer specific information if an absence involves COVID-19 testing. "We're just following protocol and he's just unavailable today, and that's really all I can say on it at this point," manager Brandon Hyde said during his Zoom conference call. "Eshelman's going to start...

We haven't been able to say this often in recent years, but it's a struggling New York Yankees team that comes to Camden Yards tonight as the Orioles' homestand continues. They'll play a doubleheader to begin a four-game, three-day series through Sunday. The New York Mets beat the Yankees 9-7 in 10 innings Thursday on Pete Alonso's two-run, walk-off homer. New York (20-16) is tied with Toronto for second in the American League East, both five games behind Tampa Bay. The Orioles (16-20) are...

Defensive metrics always must be taken with a grain of salt, especially when using them to evaluate only 35 games. But even in small doses, they can shed some insight into a player and a team's performance in the field. The numbers right now say the Nationals have the worst defensive outfield in the majors, and it's across the board. Adam Eaton, with -4 Defensive Runs Saved, is tied for last among all right fielders. Victor Robles (-6) is tied for last among center fielders. And Juan Soto...

Nationals reliever Kyle Finnegan has put his name on an initiative to help children diagnosed with cancer. Finnegan is urging fans to donate to a campaign of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation called Vs. Cancer, either in a lump sum or by pledging an amount for every strikeout Finnegan records for the remainder of the season. A co-worker of Finnegan's father, William Finnegan, told the right-hander about the organization. "Just trying to raise anything we can for this great cause,"...

Alex Cobb no longer is the starter for the opener of today's doubleheader against the Yankees at Camden Yards. He's on the injured list. No explanation has been provided. Manager Brandon Hyde is going to speak with the media later this afternoon on his Zoom conference call and will announce the substitute starter. The Orioles made a flurry of moves today. They summoned infielder Ramón Urías as the 29th man and selected reliever Branden Kline's contract from the alternate camp site in...

If you thought the first two legs of the Nationals' road trip were tough, look at what they still must contend with now to wrap up this long and painful trek up and down the East Coast. After losing two of three in Boston and all four in Philadelphia, they now have four games in three days in Atlanta, starting with today's doubleheader at Truist Park. After needing 6 2/3 innings out of six relievers in Thursday's heartbreaking loss, Davey Martinez would love to be sending two starters to the...

For the fifth consecutive year, the Orioles will join the rest of Major League Baseball in recognizing Childhood Cancer Awareness Day on Saturday, September 5, as they host the New York Yankees at 7:35 p.m. ET. During Saturday's game, Orioles players and coaches will wear special gold chest decals and the bases will have special gold jewels, to raise awareness for childhood cancer. The evening's broadcast talent will also wear gold ribbon pins, and childhood cancer awareness graphics will be...

There's a lot to unpack from the Thursday's 6-5 loss in Philadelphia, and hopefully I touched on a lot of it in the game story. Byron Kerr also has much more on a mostly lights-out performance by the Nationals bullpen that somehow still included a blown save and a loss. But this morning I wanted to go back and re-examine the top of the 10th, because what happened during that half-inning said a whole lot about the current state of the team and raised some more questions about what exactly...

Overshadowed a bit in the 6-5 10-inning loss for the Nationals at Philadelphia on Thursday was the overall effectiveness of the Nats bullpen. Starter Aníbal Sánchez lasted only 3 1/3 innings. From there, the Nats relievers compiled 6 1/3 innings, allowing the Phillies only two runs on just two hits. The bullpen struck out 10 batters. Both Kyle Finnegan and Tanner Rainey struck out the side. It all started with Wander Suero, who worked 1 2/3 innings after Sánchez's struggles. He kept...

A lot of things have to go right for the Nationals to win a ballgame right now. They need quality starting pitching and some timely hitting. And if they can't get the former, they need more of the latter. And then even if they do all that and take a lead into the late innings, they still need their bullpen to finish it off. That bullpen may be this team's biggest strength in this unusual season, but it's not perfect. And on a day when manager Davey Martinez got elite work out of the three...