He is one of several Orioles relievers who may be showing early this season that some offseason improvements and tweaks are taking hold. O's bullpen right-hander Miguel Castro has thrown 6 1/3 scoreless innings to date over six games, allowing four hits with one walk to eight strikeouts. For Castro, command and control have always been big because the raw stuff is solid. His fastball velocity is up from last year's 97.4 mph to 98.0, and his changeup speed is up from 90.6 mph to 92.4 per...

In order to get down to the league-mandated 28-man roster by noon ET today, the Nationals optioned right-hander James Bourque to their Fredericksburg site and designated for assignment veteran Emilio Bonifácio. With the return of Wander Suero, Bourque's appearances would have diminished. Bourque appeared in two games, most recently 1/3 of an inning July 28 against the Blue Jays in which he walked Teoscar Hernández and induced a groundout by Cavan Biggio to end the ninth inning. On July...

After a coronavirus outbreak slammed the rosters of the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals, Major League Baseball added new provisions to its safety protocols, threatening suspensions for repeated or flagrant violations, according to USA TODAY Sports. The newspaper's website reported that MLB now requires players and staff to wear masks in the dugout, clubhouse and at all public places on the road as well as in the hotel. MLB's six-page memo, released Wednesday to the 30 teams, said the...

Orioles pitchers allowed just three runs combined in both games of a doubleheader but managed to lose them both. The pitchers were real good, the hitters were really not. When Austin Hays singled in a run in the sixth inning of the second game last night, it allowed the Orioles to avoid a third straight shutout, something they last endured in 2015. But in the Miami series, O's batters are 10-for-77 (.130) with one run scored. They have just three extra-base hits (all doubles), have drawn only...

More changes came to the Orioles last night beyond their status as the road team inside their own ballpark. Can't wipe the weirdness slate clean. Rather than wait until later today, the Orioles further reduced their roster to 28 players by optioning outfielder DJ Stewart to the alternate camp site in Bowie. Coupled with pitcher John Means going on the bereavement list, the Orioles can stop tweaking the roster unless they want to swap out personnel before playing tonight's series finale...

Whatever concern the Nationals had about their veteran pitchers' ability to make it through the 2020 season healthy after a grueling 2019 that didn't end until they hoisted the Commissioner's Trophy on Oct. 30 seemed to vanish once it became clear the 2020 season wouldn't start until midsummer and would be severely reduced in length. What a perfect opportunity for Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin, Aníbal Sánchez, Sean Doolittle, Daniel Hudson and even former Astro Will...

After missing the first 13 days of the regular season, Juan Soto took the field for the first time in 2020 for a game that counted, going 2-for-4 with a double and RBI in the Nationals' 3-1 setback against the Mets at Nats Park Wednesday night. Despite the loss, Soto was happy to finally return and play after being away from the team due to a positive test result for COVID-19. "It feels good to be back, be with the team, try to have fun in the game and everything," Soto said during a...

The Orioles waited to bat in the top of the first inning in the second game of today's doubleheader while wearing their white jerseys and treated as outsiders. Walk-up music was played for the Marlins. Introductions were accompanied by images of the Miami players on the video board. If meals weren't prepackaged in the clubhouses, the spread surely would have included Joe's stone crabs. The crab shuffle should have been replaced by Don Johnson hiding a baseball in his white suit. The 2020...

So how did it turn so quickly on offense for the Orioles? Through Sunday they had just swept a three-game series from the Tampa Bay Rays. And while the offense was not putting up huge numbers, they were scoring just over five runs a game and were among the American League leaders in team OPS. But then the Miami Marlins came to town - a team that had not played in eight days - and the Orioles can't touch their pitching. Sure, the Marlins threw two young pitchers with good arms at them in Pablo...

The images were unusual and alarming. Max Scherzer, throwing at less than full velocity and with less than full extension. Looking uncomfortable as he walked off the mound at the end of a laborious top of the first. Talking with the training staff upon returning to the dugout as Erick Fedde began furiously warming up in the bullpen. The Nationals lost tonight's ballgame, 3-1 to the Mets. They can only hope they didn't also lose their ace to a significant injury, not that any injury is...