The Orioles aren't going to use reliever Hunter Harvey before the weekend, but they'll continue to downplay his absence as more of a precautionary measure with a reasonable explanation. Harvey said he's been bothered with some biceps soreness. He didn't have any issues during yesterday's bullpen session. "He hasn't thrown this much since 2014, so he's got some normal soreness that everybody else has and goes through in September," said manager Brandon Hyde. "He's never pitched in...

MINNEAPOLIS - Everyone has a 9/11 memory. Where they were. What they thought. How they felt afterward. And many post-9/11 memories involve baseball, which in many ways helped the United States heal through one of its darkest times and bring back some semblance of normalcy in the days and weeks after the terrorist attacks. Davey Martinez remembers all of it, because he lived through all of it. And he had a front row seat to one of that fall's defining baseball moments: Mike Piazza's dramatic...

When the offseason begins for the Orioles soon, they'll have a general manager in place to hit the ground running for the fall and winter. O's executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias was hired last year on Nov. 16. So he was not here as the offseason began after 2018 and had to play catch-up. That is not true this year. A few days ago Ben McDonald and I interviewed Elias on the pregame show on the Orioles Radio Network. Here are a few of the questions and answers. What are...

The Orioles' last win was in Game 1 of a doubleheader a week ago yesterday on the road against the Tampa Bay Rays by a 4-2 score. They have lost six in a row since. The last three of this streak, they've lost by a combined 26-11 score. In those three games the O's starters - Aaron Brooks, Asher Wojciechowski and Ty Blach - pitched a combined seven innings, allowing 21 hits and 17 runs (16 earned) along with three home runs. Meanwhile, O's batters have scored 11 runs over the past three...

Orioles reliever Hunter Harvey said he's been experiencing some biceps soreness and will be given a few extra days of rest before he's available to pitch over the weekend in Detroit. Manager Brandon Hyde hasn't used Harvey since Sept. 2 at Tropicana Field. Harvey faced one batter. "We talked about things just from finally pitching a full season, so it's just normal stuff, nothing bad," Harvey said. "I think I'll be back in there this weekend." Harvey has appeared in six games with the...

As play begins in Major League Baseball tonight, the Orioles' Hanser Alberto ranks fourth in the American League and ninth in the major leagues with a batting average of .320. Not bad for a hitter that before this year had a total of 192 plate appearances spread over parts of three seasons with Texas and hit just .192. One reason that Alberto has hit for a high average is a low number of strikeouts. He never struck out more than 49 times in a year in the minors and this year has fanned just 43...

MINNEAPOLIS - The Nationals really need a win tonight. Which means they need to score runs. Preferably early in the game. For what it's worth, this appears to be a favorable matchup against Twins left-hander Martín Pérez. The Nats tend to hit lefties well (aside from last weekend's struggles against Max Fried and Dallas Keuchel). Pérez has a 4.75 ERA and 1.463 WHIP. And a few Nats who have faced him before have good numbers, including Brian Dozier (5-for-12, two homers) and Adam...

Stevie Wilkerson gets this third start tonight at second base as the Orioles try again to pick up their 47th win and match last year's total. Jonathan Villar is leading off and Hanser Alberto is batting second. Trey Mancini is in right field and the cleanup spot. Dwight Smith Jr. is the designated hitter tonight. Chris Davis is at first base and Austin Hays is in center field. Left-hander John Means has allowed two earned runs or fewer in his last four starts over 25 2/3 innings. None of the...

On the first night of the Eastern League Championship Series, the Double-A Bowie Baysox took a 2-0 lead three batters into the game. The Baysox had some early momentum. But then they failed to score the rest of the night and lost the series opener 6-2 at Trenton. The Thunder scored two in the third to tie it and one in the fifth to get the lead. A three-run Trenton sixth put the game away as Trenton took the lead in the best-of-five finals. In that inning, Kellin Deglan hit a two-run triple for...

MINNEAPOLIS - It may not have mattered in the end, because the Nationals still needed to score if they were going to win Tuesday night's game, and they never did. Nonetheless, Davey Martinez's bullpen usage in the bottom of the eighth of what wound up a 5-0 loss to the Twins merits a closer look, and a thorough explanation from the manager, because it left more than a few people asking questions. The situation: The Nationals trailed the Twins 2-0, with both runs having scored on Mitch...