TORONTO - At a time when the Orioles bullpen is struggling and often giving up leads, a pitcher that had been struggling previously is not anymore. At least not in a recent stretch of games. Right-hander Evan Phillips has now put together six straight scoreless appearances for the Orioles, the latest a two-inning stint last night when he pitched the fourth and fifth against Toronto. Over the six games, Phillips has thrown seven innings, allowing four hits with three walks and 10 strikeouts. It...

Austin Hays stays in center field tonight as the Orioles continue their series in Toronto. According to STATS, Hays became the first major league rookie last night to have at least five RBIs, a stolen base and an outfield assist in the same game since RBIs became an official stat in 1920. Trey Mancini is playing first base. He's batting .413 (19-for-46) with four home runs and 16 RBIs during a 10-game hitting streak. The streak is tied with infielder Hanser Alberto's 10-gamer from Aug. 11-21...

Nationals manager Davey Martinez will start Yan Gomes in Game 2 to catch right-hander Max Scherzer. This will allow Kurt Suzuki more time to rehab as he gets better from an elbow injury that has prevented him from starting since September 5. Raudy Read is starting game one for Joe Ross. "Yan will catch the second game," Martinez said. "I had a long conversation with Suzuki and Paul (Lessard) last night after the game. He's about 70-75 percent right now. And he's progressing so I'd rather...

TORONTO - After their marathon, 15-inning 11-10 loss to Toronto that ended early this morning, the Orioles and Blue Jays meet tonight in Game 2 of this series at Rogers Centre. It is also the second game of a season-ending six-game road trip that takes the Orioles to Boston beginning Friday. In yesterday's loss, Austin Hays went 3-for-8 with two homers, five RBIs and four strikeouts. He also made several outstanding catches in a game where all of his talents were on display. His three-run...

TORONTO - The Orioles' Trey Mancini is racking up some honors: Most Valuable Oriole, and now he's the latest American League Player of the Week after a week when he hit .462 (12-for-26) in six games with four runs, four doubles, two home runs, 10 RBIs and 22 total bases. Mancini has had a huge year for the Orioles and is on his way to recording career highs in homers (34), doubles (36), runs (101), RBIs (93), walks (57), slugging (.532) and OPS (.889). Beginning with last night's game,...

Baseball players are as superstitious as they get, so it's not surprising that Adam Eaton was none too pleased when he walked into the Nationals clubhouse Monday afternoon and saw rolled up plastic curtains positioned over every locker. "Don't bring that up. I'm not happy about it," Eaton said with a smile but more than a hint of truth behind the facade. "I'm not happy at all. We've had a discussion. It won't happen again. If I had it my way, I would do a Chris Sale and rip every...

The Nationals head into a long Tuesday confident in their spot in the playoff hunt. After dropping the Phillies here last night 7-2 to open the five-game set, the Nats are very close - magic number at three - to clinching their first postseason berth since 2017. "We got two games tomorrow," left-hander Patrick Corbin said Monday night, following his winning performance of one run allowed over six frames. "Hopefully start off with a goodie the first game. I don't think anything is going to...

Patrick Corbin battled through six innings as the Nationals dropped the Phillies 7-2. The left-hander's pitch count was up, but he never let the Phillies enjoy a big hit. Former Nats slugger Bryce Harper was never able to change the momentum. Harper singled in the first inning. But Corbin rebounded to strike him out swinging in the third inning on a 94 mph fastball. He walked Harper in the sixth, Harper came around to score the first run for the Phillies. "He had a really good fastball,"...

TORONTO - A marathon game that featured 21 runs, 29 hits, 10 homers and 20 pitchers finally ended early Tuesday morning at Toronto. Anthony Alford hit a walk-off homer with two outs in the last of the 15th as Toronto beat the Orioles 11-10. Alford hit a 2-2 changeup from right-hander Ryan Eades, the 10th O's pitcher, to end a five-hour, 21-minute struggle. Eades had thrown 2 2/3 scoreless when Eades connected for his first career home run in his 51st career plate appearance. Earlier, for the...

A roller coaster of a baseball season that began in hopeless fashion, then turned remarkably hopeful over the course of the summer before some September hiccups has now left the Nationals on the cusp of a significant achievement. It will still take three positive results over the span of a long day of baseball, but it can now be said: The Nationals could clinch a postseason berth Tuesday night, with five games to spare. The Nats put themselves in that position thanks to a 7-2 victory over the...