The sidebar on yesterday's news about Josh Rogers' insertion in the rotation is how Gabriel Ynoa is staying in it. It speaks of the building trust in Ynoa, who's made four starts, and the limited alternatives as the Orioles seek ways to improve their depth in the high minors. They'll keep a close eye on Tom Eshelman, who made his debut with Triple-A Norfolk last week and allowed only one earned run in seven innings. Hyde expressed his satisfaction yesterday in his top four, which includes...

As damaging as Trevor Rosenthal's early season performance was to the Nationals bullpen, Kyle Barraclough's struggles have had nearly as much of a negative impact on that group as a whole. Barraclough, who like Rosenthal was acquired early in the offseason by general manager Mike Rizzo, was supposed to join his fellow right-hander as setup men for Sean Doolittle, offering manager Davey Martinez experience and success in that role over the last three seasons for the Marlins. Rosenthal's...

This time, there was no series-opening win with a chance to finally win a series for the Orioles. They did that in recent series against Detroit, San Francisco, Texas and Toronto. They won the first game of a three-game set, only to lose the next two games. This weekend, they've fallen 13-2 and 7-2 to the Red Sox, so this series is lost and they hope to salvage the third game today. Since winning a series on April 24, the Orioles are 0-14-1 in series play. On the year, they are 3-18-2 in 23...

I'm not sure I agree with manager Brandon Hyde that the Orioles have to play almost perfect baseball to beat good clubs, but we sure know they can't play poorly and do it. They pitched poorly for most of Friday's game with Boston and played poorly overall for much of Saturday's loss. It started in the top of the first, when outfielders Keon Broxton and Anthony Santander had a discussion after Broxton made a catch in the gap while Andrew Benintendi was tagging up and running unfettered into...

Early Saturday afternoon, it looked like the Nationals had a good approach to their matchup with right-hander Taylor Clarke. The Nats scored three runs on three extra-base hits - two homers and a triple - to take a 3-2 lead after one inning. Trea Turner tripled and Juan Soto and Matt Adams homered. But then Clarke retired 12 of the next 16 batters he faced. He allowed only four singles after the first inning, no more runs and struck out five batters to keep his club in the game. The D-backs...

Stephen Strasburg, more often than not, has pitched deep into games this season and at worst given the Nationals a good chance to win. The Nats lineup, more often than not, has battled late even when trailing and at worst brought the tying run to the plate and given the team a good chance to win. When neither of those regular developments occurred this afternoon on South Capitol Street, the end result was the ugliest, least-inspiring loss this team has suffered in a while. With four early home...

The Orioles restored some semblance of order to their pitching staff today. Right-hander Dylan Bundy took a shutout to the sixth. But it got away from him - and then there was the matter of the Orioles getting anything going against Boston left-hander Chris Sale. They got to Sale for a couple of runs in the sixth, ending his run of consecutive innings without allowing an earned run at 22. But the Orioles still were two runs short today until Boston scored three in the ninth for a 7-2 win in...

Dylan Bundy had his share of weird today and the game aged only two innings. He stumbled while warming up before his first pitch and held onto the ball, whether due to loose footing or the plate umpire moving toward catcher Pedro Severino. He stood helplessly, arms spread out, as outfielders Keon Broxton and Anthony Santander chatted in right-center and Andrew Benintendi tagged up and moved to second base. Jackie Bradley Jr. broke for second and didn't draw a throw or an infielder, an easy...

It's been home run derby to begin Saturday's matchup between the Nationals and Diamondbacks. Arizona's Ketel Marte took the first pitch of the game from Stephen Strasburg over the left-center field wall for his 18th homer of the season. Later in the first inning, Adam Jones smacked his 13th of the season, a solo shot for a 2-0 lead. The Nationals quickly answered against D-backs starter and Broad Run (Va.) High School alum Taylor Clarke in the bottom of the first. Trea Turner legged out a...

After losing the last three games by 8-6, 12-3 and 13-2 scores, the Orioles could use some solid pitching today. They will host Boston in the second game of a three-game series at Oriole Park. Over those last three games, two versus Toronto and last night's loss to Boston, O's pitchers have allowed 33 runs and 44 hits. They gave up three homers Thursday and six last night. The O's bullpen has been torched for 22 runs in the three games over 14 2/3 innings. The team ERA for the year jumped...