HOUSTON - The Orioles will try again today to win their first series since April 22-24, going 0-11-1 leading into today's finale against the Astros at Minute Maid Park. They're repeating a lineup for the first time this season, sticking with the group that produced a 4-1 win yesterday afternoon. Hanser Alberto is leading off, Jonathan Villar is batting fifth and Anthony Santander is batting sixth. Stevie Wilkerson is playing left field again and Richie Martin is the shortstop. Everyone is in...

SAN DIEGO - Did Brian Dozier know, when he stepped to the plate in the top of the fourth Saturday night, that he was sitting on 999 career hits? "No," he insisted. "I knew it was creeping up, just because of people like you guys tweeting about that kind of stuff." Wait, does Dozier follow Nationals reporters on Twitter? "No," he replied. "I actually deleted Twitter because of you guys." Fair enough. Dozier could be excused for trying to block out the criticism that was being levied at...

SAN DIEGO - After a chaotic and gut-wrenching loss Friday night, what the Nationals needed tonight more than anything else was a nice, clean game with no reason for panic. What they needed was a no-nonsense Max Scherzer start. And that's what they got, riding their ace's seven scoreless innings and some timely early hits to a 4-1 victory over the Padres that very briefly felt in danger of falling apart in the ninth until Sean Doolittle took care of business and locked it down. Scherzer played...

HOUSTON - While the Orioles continued to audition Anthony Santander in right field yesterday with DJ Stewart on the injured list, one of their top prospects joined the highest affiliate for the first time in his professional career. Austin Hays started in center field last night with Triple-A Norfolk and went 2-for-5 with a double. Release the streamers and confetti. The rehab portion of Hays' season is finished. His thumb is healed and he no longer needs at-bats below his assigned level. Hays...

SAN DIEGO - The Nationals could've waited until Monday to make a final decision on Trevor Rosenthal, whether to activate the reliever off the injured list at the end of a 30-day rehab assignment or whether to cut ties with him and eat the $8 million they guaranteed him over the winter. They decided to go ahead and make the move now, though, activating Rosenthal before tonight's game against the Padres, hoping he can ride a couple of positive outings for Double-A Harrisburg earlier this week...

Looking for their first series win since April 22-24, the Orioles will try to win one today in an unlikely place to do so. Houston has not lost a series this season at Minute Maid Park and, at 23-9, has the best home record in the league. But today the O's will look for back-to-back wins there. If they get that, they'll snap both their 0-11-1 run in series play and Houston's 9-0-1 winning series run. Houston is 7-0-2 in home series in 2019. On the mound today, right-hander Dylan Bundy (3-6,...

The Houston Astros have not lost a home series all year. Could it be the Baltimore Orioles are the first team to change that stat? Yep, the Orioles have a chance today to win a series at Houston after they followed an 11-inning loss Friday night with Saturday's 4-1 victory at Minute Maid Park. Renato Núñez hit his ninth homer in the last 18 games to give them a 1-0 lead in the sixth, and Richie Martin's second homer in four games and third of the year was big. Martin hit a two-run shot...

The Washington Nationals returned from rehab assignment and reinstated right-handed pitcher Trevor Rosenthal from the 10-day Injured List and optioned right-handed pitcher Kyle McGowin to Double-A Harrisburg on Saturday. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcement. Rosenthal, 29, returns to the active roster after missing 39 games while on the 10-day Injured List. He appeared in 10 games with Double-A Harrisburg while on rehab assignment,...

SAN DIEGO - After a couple of gloomy evenings to begin the weekend, the sun has finally come out and it's a beautiful day here. Maybe that's a good omen for the Nationals, who had to be feeling a bit gloomy themselves after Friday night's walk-off loss to the Padres. Things can only get sunnier from here, right? Here's reason for the Nationals to feel upbeat: Max Scherzer is on the mound tonight. That certainly doesn't guarantee victory, as we've seen too many times this season. But...

HOUSTON - Astros left fielder Derek Fisher didn't flinch. Didn't move a muscle. Renato Núñez launched a ball over his head today in the sixth inning and he had no interest in watching its flight or checking where it landed. He knew only that he couldn't touch it and a scoreless tie was history. Anthony Santander raced to the fence in right-center field in the bottom half of the inning and made a leaping catch to rob Yuli Gurriel of a three-run homer. It went down in the books as a...