The Orioles invite families to spend Mother's Day at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Sunday, May 13, for the 1:05 p.m. ET game against the Tampa Bay Rays. The Orioles will celebrate Mother's Day with pink caps for on-field personnel, Mother's Day-oriented messages from players on the videoboard throughout the game, a guest public address announcer, and an exclusive pashmina scarf giveaway. The Orioles will also honor Dr. John Fetting as the Birdland Community Hero for his work in the fight...

Jonathan Schoop remains the cleanup hitter tonight and Craig Gentry is playing right field as the Orioles make another attempt to find the win column. Danny Valencia is the third baseman. Mark Trumbo is the designated hitter. Andrew Cashner has made three career starts against the Royals and allowed three earned runs in 16 innings, but he's lost both decisions. Cashner is 1-4 with a 4.89 ERA and 1.526 WHIP this season in seven starts over 38 2/3 innings. The Orioles are 1-6 in his starts....

The Orioles may not be playing as well as all fans had hoped, but there is some good baseball being played down on the farm. Two of the lesser-known outfield prospects in the organization, Ademar Rifaela and Ryan McKenna, are off to fantastic starts. Rifaela, 23, has been in the organization since 2013, when he played for the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League Orioles as an 18-year old after being signed by the O's as an international free agent out of Curacao. As his body matured, so too...

When the Nationals didn't re-sign Adam Lind over the offseason, Nats faithful were heartbroken. Lind had become a fan favorite, and the left-handed slugger was incredibly important to the club all last season, providing a huge lift off the bench and filling in in the starting lineup when the Nats needed him most. But when they let him go, the question remained: Who was going to fill that giant hole left by Lind's absence? Enter Matt Adams. Adams and Lind essentially have the same role:...

Juan Soto continued to pummel minor league pitching last week with a .522 average and five homers, earning the 19-year-old the Carolina League Player of the Week honors. Nationals director of player development Mark Scialabba said having a healthy Soto means everyone gets to see what the system's hottest prospect is capable of producing. Soto has recorded at least a base hit in 12 of the 14 games he has played for the P-Nats. In 30 minor league games this season, between low Single-A...

SAN DIEGO - Some more thoughts, observations and reactions after Tuesday night's 4-0 win over the Padres ... * On a night in which all of the Nationals' runs were driven in by guys batting sixth (Matt Adams), seventh (Pedro Severino) or eighth (Jeremy Hellickson, Andrew Stevenson), Bryce Harper again took an oh-fer out of the leadoff spot. With an 0-for-4, two-strikeout game, Harper extended his recent slump to 0-for-19, a stretch during which he has drawn only one walk. He did legitimately...

So how could Orioles right-hander Dylan Bundy pitch so well over his first five starts and so poorly over his last three? It hopefully for him reached rock bottom last night when he faced seven hitters and gave up five hits, two walks and four homers in falling behind 7-0, without getting an out. Bundy is the first pitcher in the modern era (since 1900) to allow four or more homers without recording an out. The Royals tied their club record for most homers in one inning. They went on to score...

SAN DIEGO - It's easy to gloss over Jeremy Hellickson in a star-studded Nationals rotation. He doesn't have the stuff to match Max Scherzer or Stephen Strasburg. He doesn't have the wipeout curveball of Gio Gonzalez. He doesn't have the bulldog reputation of Tanner Roark. Here's what Hellickson does have: motivation. After sitting around all winter and the majority of the spring looking for work on the heels of a frustrating 2017 campaign in Philadelphia and Baltimore, the 31-year-old...

Mike Wright Jr. was in the Orioles bullpen and come-to-the-rescue mode last night with Dylan Bundy failing to retire a batter. Wright covered 4 2/3 innings and threw 80 pitches before Rule 5 pick Pedro Araujo replaced him and let an inherited runner score on Mike Moustakas' two-run shot to center field. Wright's extended appearance likely impacts his candidacy to start Game 1 of Saturday's doubleheader against the Rays. The Orioles could consider someone else in the bullpen or shift their...

SAN DIEGO - If Jeremy Hellickson wanted to make sure he gets to face a lineup for the third time, he's sure doing everything he can tonight to keep Davey Martinez in the dugout and the Nationals bullpen quiet. Hellickson has retired the first 15 Padres batters he's faced, cruising through five perfect innings on only 69 pitches. The veteran right-hander, who has pre-emptively been pulled from his last two starts before being allowed to face the opposing lineup a third time through, is making...