Trey Mancini is starting at first base today while Chris Davis stays on the bench for the Orioles' second game of their series against the Marlins. Davis has sat out the last four games. He joined Manny Machado and Pedro Álvarez on the field today for early hitting. The session including hitting coach Scott Coobaugh tossing the ball underhanded from close range and each player driving the ball to the opposite field. It ended with vice president of baseball operations Brady Anderson throwing...

TORONTO - The Nationals' unfamiliarity with Rogers Centre cost them during Friday night's 6-5 loss. Perhaps now that they've experienced this unique ballpark a little bit, they won't be victimized by it in the second game of their weekend series with the Blue Jays. It doesn't hurt, of course, to have Max Scherzer on the mound. The ace has made four prior starts here in his career, and all he's done is go 3-0 with a 1.98 ERA, 32 strikeouts and only five walks. And this was the Detroit...

TORONTO - Matt Adams finished the at-bat, and he played another inning in the field, but deep down the Nationals first baseman knew his left index finger was in no real condition to continue playing after it was struck by a pitch in the top of the second Friday night. "I mean, I knew from the get-go it was bad, but I wanted to do everything I could to stay out there," he said. "I don't like coming out of the games and putting other guys in a tough position. So, tough situation." Yes, and...

The Orioles offense seems to be relentless in its pursuit of being bad. They've faced lefties and righties, experienced and inexperienced pitchers, hurlers from the American League and the National League, and they have failed to produce much against most. A day off did nothing to revive things. The 2-0 loss to Miami on Friday night means the Orioles have been shut out eight times this year. That includes twice in the last four games and four times in the past 15 games. The offense has been...

One man's torn latissimus dorsi muscle is another man's opportunity to become an established major league reliever. It sounds harsh, but it's also baseball reality. No one is celebrating Richard Bleier's season-ending injury, and that's especially true of Tanner Scott. They're friends who sat next to each other in the clubhouse. They traded playful insults while I sought their opinions on the movie "The Sandlot" for a MASN pregame segment. Scott had to be highly upset by the news of...

TORONTO - The ball came off Teoscar Hernández's bat, went high in the air toward right field and left just about everyone inside Rogers Centre assuming it would fall harmlessly into Adam Eaton's glove for the first out in the bottom of the seventh. Alas, both Eaton and Gio Gonzalez knew otherwise. Because each knew the same thing: They had no clue where the ball was, hidden somewhere in the post-9 p.m., mid-June Canadian dusk. "As soon as it goes up, it's a pretty helpless feeling,"...

No team in the majors has scored fewer runs than the Orioles. They needed eight more before tonight to catch the team ahead of them, the Marlins, their opponent for a weekend series at Camden Yards. The only fireworks were coming after the game. And there isn't enough smoke to mask the Orioles' primary weakness. The Marlins manufactured a run off Kevin Gausman in the fifth inning to break a scoreless tie, padded their lead in the sixth and handed the Orioles their eighth loss in a row, 2-0,...

TORONTO - The Nationals put themselves in a position to win tonight's series opener at Rogers Centre with a late rally, but it would have required spotless relief and airtight defense, and they received neither. A misplay in right field by Adam Eaton in the bottom of the seventh turned a routine fly ball into a costly double, and Justin Miller's first poor relief outing in the majors or minors this season turned the game into a 6-5 loss to the Blue Jays. Summoned to try to pitch out of a jam...

TORONTO - Matt Adams had been one of the few members of the Nationals lineup to avoid injury so far this season. Add the big first baseman to the list now. Adams had to depart tonight's game before the bottom of the third, one inning after he took a pitch off his left hand while squaring around to bunt the previous inning. Leading off the top of the second and facing the exaggerated infield shift he has seen from most opponents this season, Adams decided to try to surprise the Blue Jays and...

The Orioles have an expanded bench tonight after they selected Corban Joseph's contract from Double-A Bowie. It includes first baseman Chris Davis, who's sitting out his third consecutive game and likely won't be in the lineup Saturday afternoon against left-hander Wei-Yin Chen. Joseph is starting at first base and leading off against Marlins right-hander José Ureña. "Chris is continuing with some things that he's working on and when they come to me and say they think he's ready...