Before the bullpen implosion, before the scary sight of Charlie Culberson getting hit in the face by a fastball, before the Nationals saw their lead in the wild card race shrink again, there was far and away the most encouraging element of Saturday's loss: Austin Voth. The game can cleanly been broken into two parts: Voth's start, and everything that came after it. When the young right-hander departed, the Nats led the Braves 1-0. From that point on, Atlanta scored 10 unanswered runs. "He's...

Well, at least the Orioles don't have to wait long to try and erase the taste of last night's loss in Detroit. The quick Saturday night to Sunday afternoon turnaround puts the O's back on the field today about 13 hours after last night's defeat. The Orioles lost 8-4 to the Tigers in 12 innings on a walk-off grand slam by John Hicks. In the eighth inning the Orioles were down 2-0 when Trey Mancini hit a go-ahead three-run home run. But with two outs in the last of the ninth, Mychal Givens...

During the 2016 season, a young outfielder for the Single-A Lynchburg Hillcats of the Carolina League had a huge season. Over 128 games he hit .290/.368/.494 with 42 doubles, 20 homers, 90 runs and 95 RBIs. He led the league in doubles and extra-base hits and was third in homers and RBIs. He was really good in games against the Orioles' Single-A Frederick Keys team and the manager in the Frederick dugout took note. So after the season when it was getting close to the time for the Rule 5 draft,...

DETROIT - The Orioles are down to their last 14 games of the 2019 season and content to go through them with a 37-man roster. Reliever Tayler Scott was the last consideration and the Orioles recalled him yesterday from Double-A Bowie, which lost to Trenton in the Eastern League Championship Series. Manager Brandon Hyde had indicated that Scott could rejoin the team after he stayed down in the minors for the minimum 10 days. The Orioles decided to assign him to Bowie for the remainder of the...

DETROIT - Orioles manager Brandon Hyde knew exactly what was coming. When the Tigers were making their first bullpen move and which reliever would enter the game. There are certain tendencies that begin to take shape. The trick is being able to counterpunch. Left-hander Daniel Norris worked three innings for the seventh start in a row and right-hander Drew VerHagen replaced him for the sixth time during that stretch. The Tigers didn't send out alerts to the visiting side, but Hyde and his...

Pinch-hitter Charlie Culberson squared to bunt in the top of the seventh inning of the Braves' 10-1 win over the Nationals on Saturday. But a Fernando Rodney fastball hit him in the face near his right eye. Culberson collapsed at the plate and was down for several minutes. He was then assisted to a cart by medical personnel and driven off the field to the hospital. As he was carted off, he gave the crowd a thumbs-up gesture. Rodney ended up facing nine more batters and had difficulty recording...

Forget about a division title. That's been out of reach for more than a week now. Forget even for a moment about home field advantage in the wild card game, which is still in their possession but feels less important right now than the Nationals' first and foremost goal over the regular season's final two weeks. No, at this point in time the Nationals need to be worried most about reaching the wild card game at all, because while they remain in an advantageous position to achieve that...

DETROIT - The Orioles ran out of lockers today on the pitchers' side of the visiting clubhouse, causing reliever Tayler Scott to dress with the position players. He was happy to be back, no matter where the Orioles put him. Scott, 27, was recalled today from Double-A Bowie after the Baysox lost to Trenton in the Eastern League championship series. He relieved starter Tyler Herb last night. "It was a lot of fun," he said. "It was good to go back and kind of see where you were a year or two...

The Orioles (48-99) beat the Tigers 6-2 last night to open a four-game series that continues tonight at Detroit's Comerica Park. The Orioles are 2-1 the last three games, but 3-10 over the past 13. With that win they improved to 14-34 in series-opening games. Right-hander Aaron Brooks got the win, allowing two runs over 5 1/3 innings. Trey Mancini's RBI single in the first inning gave the Birds a 1-0 lead, and his two-run homer (No. 31) in the seventh extended a 4-2 Baltimore lead. DJ Stewart...

DETROIT - Chris Davis wasn't in the Orioles lineup last night against right-hander Jordan Zimmermann, a favorable matchup on paper failing to influence his manager on the field. Being a left-handed hitter and owning six hits in 11 career at-bats, including four home runs, didn't get Davis off the bench. Davis figured to sit again tonight versus left-hander Daniel Norris, which is how it played out. He's appeared in only three games this month. Brandon Hyde indicated that Davis' at-bats...