PHILADELPHIA - Though they lost 4-3, the Nationals played a clean, pretty crisp game last night. No, it wasn't perfect, but neither was it anything like some of their other games to date that featured all manner of dysfunction. So Davey Martinez will be looking for a similar performance tonight. And yet, the Nationals need not only to play well but also to win, lest they fall to 4-6 overall and a full four games behind the Phillies in the standings. Yeah, these games matter, even in early...

Jonathan Villar attacked Marco Estrada's reverse splits last night by batting from the right side against a right-handed pitcher, hardly a new tactic in baseball but one that doesn't surface on a regular basis. Villar struck out and flied out in his first two at-bats, coming to the plate twice in the first two innings. But he followed Cedric Mullins' triple in the fourth with a home run to center field, contact made from the left side. A single in the eighth left Villar 2-for-5 with four...

The comeback attempt of pitcher Nate Karns has stalled. The Orioles placed Karns on the 10-day injured list this afternoon with a strained right forearm and recalled reliever Evan Phillips from Triple-A Norfolk. Phillips will be in the bullpen for tonight's game against the Athletics at Camden Yards. Karns was the first free agent signed by the Orioles to a major league deal since the new regime moved in and he broke camp with them after missing the 2018 season with an elbow injury. He...

As they scored their most runs since Aug. 28 of last year, the Orioles improved to 5-5 and ended a four-game losing streak last night. They hit three triples and two homers in a 12-4 win over Oakland. Six players had multi-hit games and four players drove in two or more runs. It was the eighth time in Orioles history that the club had three triples in a game and the first time since April 29, 1993 in an 11-0 win over Minnesota. Then the triples were hit by Cal Ripken Jr., Mike Devereaux and...

So the Orioles ended a four-game losing streak with last night's 12-4 win over Oakland. They are 5-5 through 10 games. That start is more impressive when you consider a few things, such as: * The Orioles have played the Yankees six times.* They have played six of 10 games on the road.* They have played seven games versus teams that won 97 or more last year.* They have played nine games versus the American League East.* Their bullpen ERA was 7.97 through nine games.* They have used an opener...

PHILADELPHIA - Brian Dozier has been in the big leagues for eight years, and during that time he's hit 173 homers, been an All-Star and three times received MVP votes. So he's not the type to panic over a season-opening slump. And yet when he stepped to the plate in the top of the ninth Monday night, Dozier couldn't avoid the giant picture of his face on the Citizens Bank Park scoreboard and the number .071 residing next to it. "Playing a number of years, you know you can have a bad week or...

Manager Brandon Hyde is learning about his players and his club pretty much on a daily basis going back to the beginning of spring training. Or perhaps the January minicamp. Last night showed exactly how they're capable of handling adversity. Coming off an embarrassing 15-3 loss to the Yankees, which featured seven home runs allowed and the pitching debut of infielder Hanser Alberto, the Orioles stormed past the Athletics 12-4 at Camden Yards and acted as though the shelling never...

Before tonight's game the Orioles' Trey Mancini said a four-game losing streak would provide a test for him and his young teammates. Tonight, they passed it. They got some stellar infield defense, three triples, two homers, some clutch outs late and just enough starting pitching to beat the Oakland A's 12-4 in the opener of a four-game series. The Orioles are 5-5 at the 10-game mark, 1-3 at home and 2-2 in series openers. O's first baseman Chris Davis lined out his first three times to bat...

Each trip to the plate tonight was met with applause, many fans standing, not a single audible objector in the crowd. It wasn't at a level that would make a player step out of the box and raise his helmet, but the support represented a new shift in Chris Davis' baseball life. Nothing else had been working. Perhaps it was possible to cheer away a slump. Davis lined to right field in the second inning and left field in the third, tying him with Eugenio Vélez for the major league record for...

PHILADELPHIA - There was no bullpen meltdown tonight, no wild back-and-forth ballgame featuring all kinds of twists and turns. No, the Nationals' first game of the season at Citizens Bank Park featured quality pitching done in solely by five fly balls that reached the bleachers in this hitter-friendly facility. The Phillies' 4-3 victory was rather ho-hum, at least in comparison to just about every other game the Nationals have played so far in 2019, all of them against two division rivals. It...