Right-hander Jeremy Hellickson was solid again for the Nationals in a 2-1 walk-off win over the Padres. He was not credited with the decision, but Hellickson only allowed one run on five hits over 5 1/3 innings with one walk and five strikeouts. His ERA has dipped to 2.13. Franchy Cordero's solo homer in the fourth was the extent of the scoring for the Padres. It appeared that the Padres might have figured out what Hellickson was doing after facing him recently. The first time through the...

CHICAGO - Last night was Kevin Gausman's 116th career start for the Orioles and there have likely been few, if any, where he had better raw stuff. Gausman has been averaging getting swings and misses on 11 percent of his pitches this year and last night he got that on 23.5 percent. His fastball averaged 94.4 mph and topped out at a season-best 99 mph. He got swings and misses on 17 of 41 split-finger fastballs. It was dominant stuff. But he only got a no-decision, as the White Sox rallied to...

Did the Padres give Juan Soto the Barry Bonds/Bryce Harper treatment in his second big league start? San Diego manager Andy Green insisted it wasn't by design, but of the 14 pitches his staff threw to the 19-year-old Nationals phenom Tuesday night, 12 were out of the strike zone. And all 12 came during three plate appearances, each resulting in a four-pitch walk. "We definitely didn't go in there and say: 'We're going to pitch around him,' " Green told reporters. "We didn't execute to...

As 25,700 fans roared in the stands, as Juan Soto scampered across the plate and as a stream of Nationals came bursting out of the dugout and made a beeline for him, Michael A. Taylor simply stood on second base. He gazed out toward center field, where his double off the wall had just given the Nationals a 2-1, walk-off win over the Padres and rather than jump for joy took a breath and seemed to be contemplating the whole situation more than celebrating it. The moment lasted only a second or...

Although it has not been officially announced, right-hander Erick Fedde is expected to make his first Major League start of the season in Wednesday's series finale against the Padres. Fedde had struggled a bit in his most recent starts, allowing five earned runs in three separate outings spanning from May 2-12. Manager Davey Martinez did not make the official announcement of which pitcher the Nationals would go with Wednesday following the club's 2-1 walk-off series winner over the...

CHICAGO - Orioles right-hander Kevin Gausman had an outing where he was dominant at times, but it didn't lead to a win tonight. The Chicago White Sox came back with three runs in the last of the eighth to beat the Orioles 3-2. The Orioles have scored just five runs in this series and 18 in the last seven games as they fall to 15-33 overall and 5-20 on the road. They failed to win two straight road games for what would have been just the second time on the year. Leading 2-0, reliever Mychal...

There's a reason Michael A. Taylor remains in the Nationals lineup, even when his batting average drops into the .180s and his strikeout totals pile up. He's in there because of his defense. And if he happens to deliver a big hit in a key moment ... well, they'll take that, too. So on a night in which offense was at an extreme premium, the Nationals needed Taylor to come up big in both departments. And because of his pure athletic skill, he nearly single-handedly beat the Padres. Three...

My trip to St. Petersburg, Fla., for the weekend series against the Rays will lack the entertainment value of having the opposing city's media staked out at Manny Machado's locker. I'm fairly certain that the Rays aren't deemed as a potential trade partner for the Orioles or a candidate to sign Machado in free agency. It's a modest media contingent to begin with, and no one will be checking with Machado on his interest in playing his home games beneath the dome. Unless he insists on...

The game was delayed 10 minutes because of big rain storm that came through the area a couple of hours before first pitch. Although the Padres are hitting the ball hard against right-hander Jeremy Hellickson, they have only singles from Jose Pirela in the first and Raffy Lopez in the second. Left-hander Eric Lauer is off to a good start for San Diego, having not allowed a base hit to the Nationals in two frames. Bryce Harper got to second base in his first at-bat thanks to a pop-up catch error...

CHICAGO - Orioles manager Buck Showalter was a keenly interested observer today when closer Zach Britton threw 20 pitches in a one-inning simulated game at Gauranteed Rate Field this afternoon. The skipper liked what he saw. "Went real well," Showalter said. "That was as good as I've seen him. If you didn't know better, you'd think he was ready to go." Britton is scheduled to throw a two-inning sim game on Saturday. That would be in Florida at extended spring training, unless there is a...