PHOENIX - Shawn Armstrong's solution began as a lengthy heart-to-heart pitching conversation with teammate Jimmy Yacabonis on the night that the Orioles flew into Arizona. Armstrong didn't have a clean outing in his last six appearances. Didn't feel right for much longer. A "three-to-four week inconsistent patch," as he calls it. "I felt like at times I had the shape to my pitches and kind of revert right back to backup sliders, backup breaking balls and so forth the next outing, and then...

PHOENIX - John Means retired the first five batters today, getting strikeouts with his changeup and curveball. But something wasn't right. He wasn't particularly sharp and the Diamondbacks were chipping away at him. Means came tumbling down in the fourth, turning in his shortest start since his rotation debut back on April 9. Nine batters came to the plate in the inning, Carson Kelly hit a three-run homer and the Orioles lost 5-2 at Chase Field. Gabriel Ynoa stranded two inherited runners,...

When the Nationals hit their low point back on May 24, more than a few publications wrote off their chances of winning in 2019. Why, a certain longtime beat writer declared it would be "nearly impossible to turn the entire season around." Ha ha ha. What a moron. Guess what the Nationals proceeded to do. They turned their entire season around. There's still a long way to go, and they haven't clinched anything yet. But what the Nats have done just to this point to get back into the thick of...

The Orioles today announced that ahead of the first-ever concert at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, featuring Billy Joel on Friday, July 26, the club will host an invitation-only benefit on Thursday, July 25. The event, which benefits arts and music education for Baltimore-area students through the Orioles Charitable Foundation, will take place on the sixth floor of the Warehouse from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. ET. The night will feature cocktails and music followed by dessert on the Flag Court...

The stands were mostly empty, the prospect of a long day and night of baseball was looming and the Nationals and Rockies had to conjure up the energy to get through today's doubleheader opener on their own. That made for what at times was a sleepy afternoon of baseball on South Capitol Street. In the end, the Nationals managed to engage themselves just enough at the right moments to walk away with a 3-2 victory and give themselves an opportunity to sweep the doubleheader when Patrick Corbin...

PHOENIX - Catcher Adley Rutschman is expected to make his Maryland debut Saturday evening with the short-season Single-A Aberdeen IronBirds. The Orioles haven't made an official announcement and schedules always are subject to change, but Saturday appears to be the target date for Rutschman to leave the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League. Aberdeen began a six-game homestand Tuesday that carries through the weekend. The IronBirds host Hudson Valley Saturday at 6:05 p.m. Ripken Stadium should be...

PHOENIX - Renato Núñez is sticking at third base this afternoon after homering again last night in a 7-2 win over the Diamondbacks. Rio Ruiz stays on the bench despite another opposing right-handed pitcher. Manager Brandon Hyde is staying with the hot hand. Anthony Santander is in center field, Pedro Severino is catching a day game following a night game and Richie Martin is playing shortstop. Chris Davis is at first base after striking out four times last night. For the Orioles Jonathan...

Matt Adams has been in this position before. It happened last year. It happened earlier this year. Adams has known throughout his tenure with the Nationals that his playing time would be limited when Ryan Zimmerman was healthy. But he's also known he would need to step in and become a regular if and when Zimmerman suffered injury, an all-too-frequent occurrence in recent years. So when Zimmerman went down Sunday night with a recurrence of the plantar fasciitis that sidelined him two months...

The Nationals edged the Rockies 3-2 in Game 1 of today's doubleheader at Nationals Park. The Nats are now through 100 games in the 2019 campaign, sporting a 35-15 record since May 24, and are 22-9 since May 2 at Nats Park and have swept three straight doubleheaders. Tonight they look for four in a row. The Rockies are going in the opposite direction: 7-20 since June 21 and 3-15 since June 30. After the first game, the Nationals optioned right-hander Erick Fedde to Triple-A Fresno and called up...

After a thrilling Tuesday night at the ballpark - thrilling, at least, once Trea Turner completed his second career cycle in the bottom of the seventh - the Nationals are right back at the park this morning for what promises to be a long day and night of baseball. Monday's rainout - did it ever actually rain during the evening hours? - forced them to schedule a day-night doubleheader today. The good news: The Nats were able to avoid burning up their bullpen during an 11-1 win over the Rockies....