Luis Sardiñas gets another start at second base tonight and Pedro Álvarez is batting second as the designated hitter while the Orioles open their 10-game homestand against the Indians. Anthony Santander is in right field and Chance Sisco is catching. No roster move has been announced. Manny Machado is a career .333 (37-for-111) hitter in 28 games against the Indians, including 10 doubles, seven home runs and 18 RBIs. In 163 games against teams from the American League Central, Machado is...

LOS ANGELES - The Nationals left Washington five days ago, reeling from a 3-7 homestand, heading to New York to face a red-hot Mets club that had opened up a six-game lead in the National League East division, all the while knowing they still had to head out west to face the Dodgers and Giants to conclude this long road trip. Well, the East Coast portion of the trip is now complete, the West Coast portion is set to begin, and the Nationals find themselves in much better shape than they were in...

On Wednesday evening, the weary Nationals bullpen suffered a collapse and got smoked like a Willie Nelson cigarette, to the tune of nine runs in the eighth inning. The dagger came when A.J Cole, now pitching in relief after losing the fifth starter role to Jeremy Hellickson, served up a mammoth grand slam home run to Yoenis Céspedes. This elevated Cole's ERA this season to 13.06 and left many Nationals fans, myself included, wondering what the next step is for Cole's career in...

The Orioles are in a rut and are watching the losses pile up as they slide down the standings in the American League East. You can only keep telling yourself, "It's early," for so long. Here on April 20, it is still true, but the hole keeps getting deeper and deeper and digging out of it only gets more difficult as time goes on. There have been some gut-wrenching losses, like Wednesday's 6-5 defeat in Detroit, and other times the Orioles just have been outplayed by their opponents, like...

The Mets series was a bit of a homecoming for utility man Matt Reynolds. The 27-year-old third baseman/shortstop combo played a total of 115 games for the Mets from 2016 to 2017. "It was definitely weird walking into the stadium on the visitor's side, since I've been here for parts of three years," Reynolds said. "It's nice having (hitting coach) Kevin (Long) here because we talk about some of good times we had over there. Having someone who kind of went through what we went through over...

DETROIT - When the Orioles' road trip to Boston and Detroit started a week ago tonight, the club was three games under .500. After going 0-6 the team comes home reeling at 5-14. The players keep insisting they are better than this and it will turn. The fans are wondering when that will happen. Meanwhile, the team has dug itself a huge early hole. They might never climb back to .500 again this year. They were at .500 or better for just the first two days of the season. The trip started with...

Manager: Terry Francona (6th season) Record: 9-7 Last 10 games: 7-3 Who to watch: SS Francisco Lindor (15 hits, 7 RBIs); LF Michael Brantley (.333 with 1 HR, 6 RBIs); 3B José Ramirez (4 HR, 8 RBIs); RHP Corey Kluber (2-1, 1.52 ERA); RHP Trevor Bauer (1-1, 2.25 ERA), RHP Cody Allen (0.00 ERA, 3 saves) Season series vs. Orioles: First meeting (6-1 in 2017) Pitching probables: April 20: RHP Trevor Bauer (1-1) vs. RHP Dylan Bundy (0-2); 7:05 p.m., MASNApril 21: RHP Mike Clevinger (1-0) vs. RHP...

What's next for the Orioles besides a 10-game homestand that starts with four against the Indians and the task of preventing a losing streak from reaching seven? Included among the losses should be the "it's still early" narrative, because seasons have imploded well before the break. A sense of urgency isn't misplaced. This is an important series. No one is recommending wide-spread panic, but the Orioles need to get on a roll and cleanse themselves of this mess. A roster move apparently is...

Manager: Bruce Bochy (12th season) Record: 9-12 Last 10 games: 4-6 Who to watch: C Buster Posey, (.265, 8 RBIs), 1B Brandon Belt (10 RBIs, 5 HR), 3B Evan Longoria (7 doubles, 9 RBIs), RF Andrew McCutchen (11 RBIs), RHP Jeff Samardzija (1-0, 0.00 ERA), RHP Hunter Strickland (2.00 ERA, 3 saves) Season series vs. Nationals: First meeting (1-5 in 2017) Pitching probables: April 23: LHP Gio Gonzalez (2-1) vs. RHP Chris Stratton (1-1), 10:15 p.m., MASN2April 24: RHP Tanner Roark (1-1) vs. LHP Ty...

DETROIT - As the Orioles leave behind Detroit and an 0-6 road trip, they'll head home with one of baseball's worst records at 5-14. There is a lot to fix. Over the next few weeks we'll find out if they can fix it and if they haven't buried themselves too far within the first three weeks of a new season. In today's 13-8 loss to Detroit, right-hander Alex Cobb struggled again. He is not yet the pitcher the Orioles expected, and his late start to spring training clearly has been...