There is no doubt about the importance of pitching. The Orioles are 42-88 and a lack of quality pitching has been a big reason for that. But there are a few stats that show us that even a team with a record like the Orioles' won-loss mark can do well when it gets some solid pitching. First, the overall numbers. With a team ERA of 5.84 through Sunday's games, the Orioles ranked 15th and last in the American League and 30th in Major League Baseball. Their rotation ERA of 5.72 ranks 15th in the...

Following a week in which he hit .483 (14-for-29) with three doubles, two homers, seven RBI, five walks, one stolen base and six runs scored, Washington Nationals third baseman Anthony Rendon was named National League Player of the Week on Monday. Major League Baseball made the announcement on MLB Network. Rendon led the National League in batting average (.483), on-base percentage (.543), slugging percentage (.793) and OPS (1.336) during the week. He hit safely in all seven games, including...

Anthony Rendon has been named National League Player of the Week, honored for his impressive performance during the Nationals' 6-1 road trip. Rendon hit .483 (14-for-29) with three doubles, two homers, seven RBIs, five walks, one stolen base and six runs. He capped off the week with a dominant showing in Sunday's 11-inning win over the Cubs, going 4-for-5 with a homer, two RBIs and a walk. Rendon, who led the league in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS for the...

Now that the Orioles have completed their first winning homestand of the season, going 4-3 against the Royals and Rays, they're rewarded with a trip to D.C. to play a red-hot team with two aces showing. The Nationals have won five in a row, coming off a sweep of the Cubs, but that doesn't put a dent in their story. They've gone 54-26 since hitting bottom with a 19-31 record, the best 80-game stretch in club history. They're sending Patrick Corbin and Max Scherzer to the mound against the...

Right-hander Mason Denaburg has a shoulder strain, according to a Nationals source, and is not throwing at this time. His last game for the Rookie-level Gulf Coast Nationals was Aug. 3. The 2018 first-round Nats selection will continue his rehab for the time being and the organization says it will continue to assess his recovery. The GCL Nats only have four more games remaining on their schedule. Denaburg will likely continue his rehab workouts at the facility in West Palm Beach,...

The high Single-A Potomac Nationals beat the Winston-Salem Dash 4-0 on Sunday afternoon. First baseman Ryan Zimmerman drove an RBI double to left-center, one of his two hits. He also had a walk. Zimmerman has played four games for the P-Nats and two games with Double-A Harrisburg as he rehabs the right foot planta fasciitis that landed him on the injured list. He has hit .375, going 6-for-16 with three RBIs and five walks. The P-Nats continue their homestand tonight, beginning a four-game...

CHICAGO - If you're among those who remain skeptical about the 2019 Nationals, if you believe this bullpen is going to ruin the season, if you believe the manager still isn't making the right moves to win ballgames, perhaps it's time to listen to what others are now saying about this team. Others, as in the team that just got swept this weekend by these Nationals. "They're hot," Cole Hamels told reporters inside the Cubs clubhouse after Sunday's game. "Probably as hot as any team we'll...

The Single-A Delmarva Shorebirds (86-44) have won a lot of games this year as a well-rounded team that can beat you many ways. But pitching has been the constant. They lead the 14-team South Atlantic League in ERA, WHIP and strikeouts. It's success like this at Delmarva, where they have a pitching coach in his first year in the Orioles organization, that the O's brass hopes they can build on. This is the start of producing what general manager Mike Elias has called the "elite talent...

Hanser Alberto as a trade chip seemed like an outrageous concept prior to the 2019 season. Hanser Alberto as a guy who avoided the waiver wire seemed like an outrageous concept. The Orioles are full of surprises this season. Residency at the bottom of the division and being within reach of the first overall pick in next year's First-Year Player Draft aren't among them. It's more about individual success stories. There's competition for the top honor, with John Means as an All-Star, Renato...

CHICAGO - The first two games of a highly anticipated weekend series were lopsided affairs, the Nationals clearly outshining the Cubs on their home turf. Today's finale? This was the ballgame everyone anticipated all along: a taut, well-played, evenly matched showdown between two National League postseason contenders. And when it finally ended some 4 1/2 hours later and 40,518 filed out into the streets of Wrigleyville, it was the Nationals who were celebrating in the middle of the diamond,...