No pitcher will ever admit it, but it had to be on Tanner Roark's mind Friday night. With the Nationals struggling mightily to score runs these days, the right-hander must have felt like he needed to be near-perfect on the mound against the Rockies. "No, you've just got to pitch your game, execute pitches," Roark insisted. "They'll get the job done. You've got to do your job on the mound, one pitch at a time, and execute the pitches." Roark did do that quite well. He surrendered a solo...

BOSTON - Orioles second baseman Jonathan Schoop didn't leave tonight's game to allow Engelb Vielma to make his major league debut. The switch was done to prevent a twinge from growing into something more severe. Schoop felt a muscle in his side grab while striking out to end the seventh inning and Vielma replaced him in the field. "He had some discomfort in his side and we decided to get him out of there to be on the safe side," said manager Buck Showalter. "That last swing he...

They're preaching patience and levelheadedness in the Nationals clubhouse right now, and honestly that's what they have to do on April 13 when the ballclub is struggling to score runs, is two games under .500 and just got held to one run on four hits by the Rockies for the second straight night. "Just got to keep grinding," Bryce Harper said. "Keep doing the things we can do to win ballgames and do the things we can control." "We've got to play until the game's over," Tanner Roark...

Nationals third baseman Anthony Rendon had to leave Friday's 2-1 loss to the Rockies after fouling a pitch off his left big toe. He was replaced by Wilmer Difo. Rendon tried to stay in the game but eventually came out after the sixth inning. "It just hit the toe, it didn't hit the foot or the ankle or the shin guard. It hit the toe," Rendon said of the play. Manager Davey Martinez reported that X-Rays came back negative. Rendon will let Martinez know how he feels in the morning. The toe was...

BOSTON - If the antiquated ballpark in Boston couldn't fix Chris Tillman, what's left for the Orioles to do? A 2.39 ERA in nine career starts at Fenway Park meant nothing tonight. It didn't enable Tillman to locate the plate, to lower his pitches into the strike zone, to gain velocity on his fastball, to properly defend himself. Tillman faced three batters in the third inning without recording an out and was charged with six runs in the Red Sox's 7-3 victory over the Orioles. His ERA rose...

Davey Martinez began the day with a message for his slumping hitters. "Just because you don't hit doesn't mean you can't help us by defense, by running the bases, a walk, whatever," the Nationals manager said. "But do something to help us win every day." Several hours later, Martinez found himself watching his team slog through another slow night at the plate, then surrender the decisive run in a 2-1 loss to the Rockies as a direct result of a defensive mistake. When it rains, it pours....

On a spectacular Friday night for baseball, one of the best night's of the year to date weather wise in the D.C. area, the starting pitchers dominated early on. Rockies left-handed Kyle Freeland allowed a single by Ryan Zimmerman with two outs in the first. But then he struck out four batters in a row. Nationals right-hander Tanner Roark retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced. The only blemish was a walk to Nolan Arenado in the first. He has two strikeouts. In the third, the Nats got...

BOSTON - Alex Cobb will make his Orioles debut on Saturday while also experiencing a homecoming of sorts. Cobb was born in Boston and moved to Florida at age 2. A Red Sox fan growing up, he still has family in the area who will filter into Fenway Park this weekend. "Sadly, I was," he said with a grin. "I regret that." Don't even bring up his excursions to Patriots games. The Orioles signed Cobb to a four-year, $57 million deal on March 21 and mapped out a gradual progression for him that...

BOSTON - On a relatively slow news day so far, here are a few injury updates related to the Orioles: * Pitcher Gabriel Ynoa, on the disabled list with a right shin stress reaction, is undergoing an MRI today on his right shoulder. His condition hasn't spread. This is something unrelated. "The shin seems to be doing well," said manager Buck Showalter, "but he's had some shoulder issues." * Left-hander Chris Lee, who sustained an oblique injury while facing his only batter in spring...

If you want a firsthand take on the perils of freaking out over April offensive numbers, look no farther than Davey Martinez, whose own career was a textbook example of the disparity many big leaguers face between early season stats and rest-of-the-season stats. "You don't want to look up my April," the Nationals manager said. "They were awful." Martinez wasn't kidding. During a career that spanned 16 big league seasons and concluded with a .276 batting average, .341 on-base percentage...