One key to the Nationals' success is any time they can get or push a starter past six innings. Turns out that's all Tanner Roark wanted. On Monday, thanks to Roark's seven innings, the bullpen was set up nicely. "I was just trying to be aggressive," Roark said. "I knew they were a good hitting team. I knew they were aggressive. Just trying to keep them off-balance and feeling uncomfortable at the plate. "Sinker was working really well tonight. Everything was working very well. (Matt)...

ANAHEIM, Calif. - As the Orioles begin a six-game West Coast road trip tonight, shortstop Manny Machado continues to be one of baseball's best hitters. Machado is batting .361/.448/.676 with seven doubles, nine homers, 22 RBIs and an OPS of 1.124. We have just a small sample of one month to look at, but Machado has become one of those rare major league hitters that has drawn more walks (17) then he has struck out (16). His walk-to-strikeout ratio of 1.06 is easily the best of his career. That...

With a pair of walks - both intentional - during Monday night's 3-2 win over the Pirates, Bryce Harper racked up his 37th and 38th free passes of the season. Only Barry Bonds, with 39 in 2004, has ever drawn more walks in March/April. Harper enters May with a .458 on-base percentage, tops in the majors. Which is a good thing. Except Harper isn't doing much else these days besides drawing walks, which is a bad thing. With only five hits in his last 35 at-bats - all of those singles - he has...

Davey Martinez sat down for his postgame news conference, minutes after yet another nip-and-tuck affair, and sighed. "That was exciting," the Nationals manager said. "We've got to start scoring runs when we can. They're playing well, they really are. But when we have a chance to put teams away, we've got to start putting them away." It needs to be stressed at this point that the Nationals won tonight's game. They beat the Pirates 3-2 to produce their first two-game winning streak in two...

One way the Nationals can get on a roll is for their leadoff hitter to lead the way. Shortstop Trea Turner did that Monday night, going 3-for-4 with an RBI in the Nats 3-2 win over the Pirates. They have now won three of their last five games. He set the tone by taking an extra base after a Ryan Zimmerman fly out to right field late in the game. But in a rare night for Turner, he didn't actually score a run in a game where he had three or more hits. That happened four times in 2016, but not...

The back end of the Nationals' bullpen would've loved a blowout win - and the respite that would accompany it - tonight. Alas, this team doesn't enjoy many blowout wins these days, last Wednesday's 15-2 thumping of the Giants serving as a distinct anomaly. So it should have come as no surprise to anyone inside Nationals Park tonight when the home team carried a one-run lead into the eighth, forcing Davey Martinez to once again coax high-stress innings from his overtaxed bullpen. Somehow,...

The Nationals tallied first against Pirates right-hander Jameson Taillon. Matt Adams singled with one out in the second. He was washed away on a Michael A. Taylor fielder's choice to third base. But Taylor reached second because Adam Frazier's throw was wide of first base. Wilmer Difo then delivered a clutch RBI single to center field to score Taylor. In the third, Trea Turner doubled down the left field line. He slid into second ahead of the tag by Frazier. Ryan Zimmerman grounded out to...

They don't have any of their three key injured regulars back in the lineup tonight, but the Nationals did have a welcome visitor to their clubhouse this afternoon: Daniel Murphy. The veteran second baseman, who has yet to make his season debut following October knee surgery, made the trip up from West Palm Beach after two weeks spent at extended spring training. Murphy, who was briefly seen in the clubhouse before the Nationals took batting practice but did not speak to reporters, was...

Last season was right-hander Wander Suero's best as a pro. He went 3-2 with a 1.79 ERA over 54 games and 65 1/3 innings, splitting his time between Double-A Harrisburg and Triple-A Syracuse. In 2017, he was named the Nationals minor league organizational pitcher of the year. Manager Davey Martinez said they went with Suero now because he is healthy and he has the ability to pitch to both sides of the plate with success. Right-hander Austin Voth was optioned to Syracuse one day after he...

A win tonight in Anaheim will allow the Orioles to equal their longest streak of the season. If anyone regards back-to-back victories as constituting a streak. The Cambridge Dictionary defines "streak" as: A mark of a color that is different from what surrounds it, or a thin strip of light. Doesn't seem like a fit here. Let's keep going. An obvious characteristic in a personality. Strike two. A period during which a series of things happens. We're getting there. A short period of good or...