Barring offseason trades and/or something else unforseen, the Orioles are likely set with three starting pitchers for the 2019 season: Alex Cobb, Andrew Cashner and Dylan Bundy. With his performance in the final two months, right-hander David Hess has established himself in the hunt for one of the two remaining spots in next year's rotation. For a rotation desperate for innings, Hess delivered last night. Against a 100-win defending World Series champion Houston team, Hess went seven last...

DENVER - With his team trailing by two runs in the bottom of the sixth and a left-handed batter leading off for the Rockies, Davey Martinez made the move most managers would make to try to keep the game close. He brought in a lefty from his bullpen to face that one batter: David Dahl, who has received only 64 plate appearances against southpaws this season and batted a mere .210 with a .557 OPS. What happened next could not have come as much surprise to anyone who has observed the Nationals all...

DENVER - The Nationals emerged from the dugout at Coors Field this evening, the temperature already down to 51 degrees on its way to 42 degrees by the time the game ended. A sellout crowd of 48,089 packed into the ballpark for the opener of what could be a momentous weekend here to wrap up the regular season. Alas, the visitors who had to break out their red jackets and hoodies for the first time in a long time weren't the ones playing for something meaningful. Aside from clinching second...

The sixth and final doubleheader of the 2018 season will be played today, giving fans perhaps twice as many chances to cheer Adam Jones before he hits free agency. Jones could start in right field and later serve as designated hitter. He also could sit out one of the games, his presence in the lineup a certainty on Sunday. Teammates tend to fumble for words while expressing what Jones has meant to the organization and especially within the community. A simple question can tie them up like a...

The Orioles got a strong start from right-hander David Hess, but their inconsistent offense produced little to back him tonight as they lost 2-1 to Houston to start the final series of the 2018 season. With the loss, the Orioles (46-113) tie the 1904 Washington Senators for the fifth-most losses in modern baseball history, dating to 1901. The Boston Braves are fourth with 115 in 1935. Baltimore has lost nine of 13 and 15 of its last 20 games. The Orioles have scored two runs or less in 10 of...

The first chance for fans to bathe Adam Jones in applause tonight came with two outs in the bottom of the first inning. The Most Valuable Oriole for 2018 focused on his pending at-bat rather than an ovation that gained momentum as Astros starter Gerrit Cole stepped behind the mound and plate umpire Bill Miller held up his hand to signal for time. Jonathan Villar stood at second base after a single and ground ball. A game was scoreless. A team captain likely was playing in his final homestand at...

DENVER - Ryan Zimmerman celebrated his 34th birthday today by getting treatment on his ailing back and then bundling up to watch from the dugout as the Nationals faced the Rockies on a 51-degree late-September evening at Coors Field. Zimmerman was not in the Nats lineup two days after he tweaked his back on a swing in the team's home finale, an injury that forced him to come out of the game after two at-bats. He hoped to play tonight, but common sense told him it wasn't worth it. "It's...

DENVER - Max Scherzer doesn't really have any reason to pitch Sunday - "I've made 33 starts, thrown 220 innings," he said today. "So that's a full workload." - but Game 162 could mean everything for the Rockies, who enter the weekend trying to win either their first division title or fourth wild card berth. So Scherzer and the Nationals have made a decision how to proceed. If Sunday's game matters for Colorado's postseason chances, Scherzer will start. If it doesn't, he'll sit. "The...

Orioles third baseman Renato Núñez has been given the chance to play every day by the rebuilding Orioles. and he's taken advantage of the best opportunity of his young career. The 24-year-old from Venezuela got 15 plate appearances with Oakland in 2016 and 16 last year. Earlier this season, he got 41 plate appearances with Texas before he was designated for assignment and claimed on waivers by the Orioles. This year with Baltimore, he's gotten 206 plate appearances. With the final...

Orioles first baseman Chris Davis isn't expected to play this weekend, which shuts him down over the final week of the season and ensures that he's going to finish with the worst average among qualifiers in baseball history. Davis has a .168/.243/.296 slash line in 522 plate appearances, his last start coming on Saturday at Yankee Stadium. Rob Deer and Dan Uggla shared the record at .179. The decision to sit Davis isn't based on his health. Starters Andrew Cashner and Alex Cobb and reliever...