The Orioles are switching leadoff hitters again tonight, with Stevie Wilkerson getting the call for the first time. Rio Ruiz is batting cleanup and Hanser Alberto has moved down to eighth after collecting a career-high four hits last night while atop the order. Jonathan Villar is playing shortstop and batting fifth. Chris Davis returns to first base after sitting out last night's 10-7 loss. Austin Wynns is catching. Alberto is 10-for-22 (.455) in seven games against the Yankees this season and...

MASN's Gary Thorne is about to begin training the next generation of baseball play-by-play announcers. Thorne, who is in his 13th year of calling Orioles games on MASN, will this week begin teaching a play-by-play course as a visiting professor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. The one-of-a-kind course runs from today through July 20 and will be open to a select group of sports journalism majors at the Cronkite School. "Gary Thorne...

MASN lead play-by-play announcer Gary Thorne, in his 13th year calling Baltimore Orioles games for the regional sports network, will teach a play-by-play course this summer as a visiting professor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. Thorne will teach the one-of-a-kind course remotely from May 20 through July 8 to a select group of sports journalism majors at the Cronkite School. Some of the students will be in Massachusetts announcing...

There could always be a surprise and the Orioles are not going to tip their hand, but for now all signs continue to point to the club taking Oregon State catcher Adley Rutschman with the first pick in the First-Year Player Draft on June 3. Good luck finding a mock draft that doesn't have the Orioles making the switch-hitting junior the No. 1 selection. He's having a sensational season. MLBPipeline.com analyst Jonathan Mayo was a guest recently on "O's Xtra" on MASN and said that he feels...

NEW YORK - More on some little things that may have been lost in the shuffle during Monday night's 5-3 loss to the Mets, plus the latest ruckus between Adam Eaton and Todd Frazier: * It wasn't the difference in the game, but the insurance run the Mets scored in the bottom of the eighth was plenty significant. And it came about in large part because of the Nationals' inability to do some little things right. Trying to keep their deficit at one run, Joe Ross struck out Frazier but then walked...

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde can envision how he'd like to line up his bullpen, though some of the names could change. How he'd want an innings-eater or two in long relief, a couple of left-handers and sturdy bridges to closer Mychal Givens, who in an ideal setting would be saved for the last inning. The games and certain individuals won't allow it to come to fruition. Gabriel Ynoa allowed one run in his first 11 1/3 innings after the Orioles selected his contract, I wrote about him and now...

For the Orioles tonight, a chance to have a feel-good series opening win against a rival after Sunday's 10-0 loss evaporated amid several defensive misplays and the New York Yankees' late-game homers. Once leading 6-1 in the fourth, the Orioles lost 10-7 to the Yankees who scored four runs in the ninth to storm from behind. With the score tied 7-7, catcher Pedro Severino apparently lost a foul popup and it landed safely instead of resulting in the third out. One batter later Gary Sánchez...

The fundamentals that Orioles manager Brandon Hyde demands of his team, no matter how far away it sits from contention, disappeared tonight along with a late-inning lead. And the outcome was predictable. The Yankees scored four runs in the ninth while taking advantage of poor throws and a missed pop up and produced a 10-7 win over the Orioles before an announced crowd of 16,457 at Camden Yards. Mychal Givens couldn't get the four-out save. The Orioles couldn't rescue him while falling to...

NEW YORK - They'd never admit it publicly, but the Nationals had to arrive at Citi Field this afternoon, see the utter chaos taking place across the way in the Mets clubhouse, and think to themselves this was shaping up to be a good opener to a four-game series that could help jumpstart their own ragged season. And then they dug themselves into an early hole and weren't able to climb all the way out of it in time, ultimately trudging off the field with a 5-3 loss that really felt like a blown...

NEW YORK - Javy Guerra won't join the Nationals bullpen until Tuesday at the earliest. But once he does, the club hopes the versatile veteran will help stabilize the majors' worst relief corps. Guerra, claimed off outright waivers from the Blue Jays earlier today, wasn't able to make it to New York in time for the Nationals' series opener against the Mets. Manager Davey Martinez, who spoke to the right-hander over the phone, hopes to have him available for Tuesday's game. "If he gets here...