ANAHEIM, Calif. - If, according to some observers, the Orioles are supposed to be tanking, some players may not have gotten the memo. This is no way to get the No. 1 draft pick. The Orioles have played hard for most of the year and now we are seeing them at times play both hard and well. When they get some big offense, they can take a series from Cleveland. When they get big starts from John Means and Asher Wojciechowski, they can take a series from Boston. And now they have a winning record...

ANAHEIM, Calif. - It was a chance for Orioles right-hander Asher Wojciechowski to follow up his strong start against Boston with another. And also get the Orioles and Angels out of here at a more reasonable hour. He got both done tonight, pitching the Orioles to a 9-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels in front of 38,852 at Angel Stadium. Baltimore improves to 34-69. The Orioles have won six of nine and are 12-11 in the past 23 games. They are 3-2 on this road trip with four games to go. Trey...

The focus should have been on Adam Eaton, whose 11-pitch at-bat with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh Friday night might well have been his best of the season. After fouling off five straight pitches from Cy Young Award contender Hyun-Jin Ryu, the Nationals' scrappy No. 2 hitter lined a base hit over the shortstop's head, bringing the tying run home as a crowd of 37,491 roared with approval. But the focus instead wound up on what happened at the end of the dramatic play during...

The Nationals will make the unusual step today of not using a traditional starting pitcher in Game 2 of this home series versus the Dodgers. Left-hander Matt Grace will take the mound as the opener for the Nats. Nationals manager Davey Martinez said postgame Friday night, after the club's 4-2 loss to Los Angeles, that right-hander Joe Ross will make his second start of the season for Game 2. Plans have changed, however, with Grace getting the ball to start. Dodgers three-time Cy Young winner...

Of course, Nationals right-hander Kyle Barraclough is not thrilled with allowing Justin Turner to hit the game-changing, three-run homer in the eighth inning of Friday night's 4-2 loss to the Dodgers. Turner hit the homer on Barraclough's 94.7 mph four-seam fastball. Before the game, manager Davey Martinez said Barraclough had been working on his mechanics, specifically his slider, in his time in the minors rehabbing on the injured list. After giving up that homer, Barraclough said he will...

Aníbal Sánchez fought through a tumultuous first inning and then shut down the Dodgers. Despite allowing four of the first five batters he faced to reach base, Sánchez bore down and got out of the inning with only one run crossing the plate. He ended up finishing seven innings, retiring the final 20 batters he faced. The Dodgers enjoyed all three of their base hits in the first frame. After Cody Bellinger's RBI single gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead, they did not threaten again against...

The pennant race tonight returned to South Capitol Street, where a crowd of 37,491 turned the ballpark as electric as it had been in at least a month, the last time the Nationals faced a fellow National League contender. The Nationals and Dodgers put on a show worthy of these kind of high stakes and gave a taste of what a potential five-game series might look and feel like should they meet again come October. Then again, during a 4-2 loss the Nats also offered up a painful look at the fatal...

The day has arrived. And so has Adley Rutschman. The first overall pick in the 2019 First-Year Player Draft has ditched the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League and is moving up one level to short-season Single-A Aberdeen. Florida couldn't hold the kid. Time to get him in Maryland. Rutschman would have reported a day earlier, but only for batting practice, if not for Thursday's rainout. The Orioles wanted him to catch in one more game, which he did yesterday. Because he was behind the plate,...

ANAHEIM, Calif. - The Orioles made a series of roster moves in the final 80 minutes before gametime tonight, which included All-Star lefty John Means going to the 10-day injured list. But the Orioles fully expect Means back after his 10-day IL stay is up and their concern level right now is low. But manager Brandon Hyde said he did not yet know what he will do to replace Means in the rotation with the news fresh today. The rundown of the moves: * Placed Means on the 10-day injured list...

The men in blue made a few new friends on Tuesday, before donning their usual garb and taking the field at Nationals Park for a game between the Rockies and Nationals. The four-man crew assigned to the four-game series - Jerry Meals, Ron Kulpa, Gabe Morales and John Libka - took time out of their schedules to visit patients at Children's Nationals Medical Center and their families as part of the UMPS CARE Charities BLUE for Kids program. Instead of balls and strikes, safe or out, fair or foul,...