NEW YORK - Orioles manager Buck Showalter had to pick his poison today. The club lived to tell about it. Showalter ordered an intentional walk to rookie slugger Aaron Judge in the bottom of the ninth inning with Jacoby Ellsbury on third base, two outs and the Orioles clinging to a 6-4 lead over the Yankees. Gary Sánchez batted as the potential winning run against closer Zach Britton and struck out. The Orioles won for only the second time in their last 11 games, avoided a sweep in the Bronx...

NEW YORK - Tim Beckham was slumping, the Orioles were sinking, and their shortstop figured he just needed to keep swinging. It felt good to get back to winning. Beckham's three-run homer off Sonny Gray in the top of the fourth gave the Orioles a little breathing room and Ubaldo Jiménez struck out 10 batters in five innings in a 6-4 victory over the Yankees before an announced crowd of 38,189. It didn't qualify as a Bronx beating, with the Yankees rallying to within two runs, but the...

There may not be all that much riding on this weekend's series, but the Nationals certainly don't want to be swept by the Dodgers. That wouldn't be very good for morale, no matter the significance of these games on what will occur next month. The good news: Stephen Strasburg is on the mound tonight, and nobody in baseball has pitched better than he has over the last month-plus. Strasburg carries a 34-inning scoreless streak into tonight's game, and all those zeroes haven't been fluky. The...

NEW YORK - Tanner Scott had returned to his home in Ohio following the Eastern League playoffs, figuring that his next pitch would come in the Arizona Fall League. He never expected to receive a phone call informing him of his promotion to the Orioles. Director of player development Brian Graham delivered the news, which led to Scott's placement yesterday on the taxi squad. The Orioles selected his contract this morning from Double-A Bowie and he's in the bullpen for the series finale at...

The Orioles have one more chance to end a miserable weekend in New York with a win. They play the Yankees today in the finale of a four-game series. They've lost the first three games in the Bronx by a combined 30-10 score, and they've allowed nine homers. In the three games, O's starters lasted a combined 7 2/3 innings, giving up 15 hits and 15 runs (14 earned). The Orioles bullpen has allowed 15 runs on six homers in 16 1/3 in the series. Today the Yankees go for their first four-game home...

NEW YORK - The Orioles selected the contract of left-hander Tanner Scott this morning, removing him from the taxi squad, and designated pitcher Richard Rodriguez for assignment. The club will know by 1 p.m. whether Rodriguez cleared waivers. He posted a 14.29 ERA in five relief appearances this month. Adam Jones is out of the lineup again today due to some soreness in his legs. The turf in Toronto wasn't kind to him. Austin Hays is in center field. Trey Mancini is batting fourth. The Orioles...

Seeing the Nationals fall to the Dodgers 7-0 and 3-2, with Edwin Jackson and A.J. Cole starting, some wonder whether the Nats are holding back a bit, perhaps waiting to step on the gas until they can turn Bryce Harper, Max Scherzer, Tanner Roark or Gio Gonzalez loose on the Dodgers in October. Manager Dusty Baker offered that one might analyze the Dodgers in the same way. After all, the Nats are missing Clayton Kershaw and Yu Darvish in this series. "Well, I don't know what their rotation was...

NEW YORK - As another game in the Bronx spiraled out of control for the Orioles, Chris Tillman rose from his seat in the visiting bullpen in the bottom of the eighth inning and began to warm up. Tillman didn't pitch in Friday night's 8-2 loss, but he came close. Manager Buck Showalter was getting ready to make the move. Richard Bleier served up a home run to Greg Bird before recording the final out, and Tillman sat down. Yesterday provided another chance for Tillman, who replaced starter...

We have seen some of the Orioles pitchers throw well on extra rest in the second half of the season. Big league teams use five-man rotations for the most part, which means their starters most often pitch with four days of rest between starts. But in the second half of the season the Orioles have provided pitchers at times more than four days' rest, and it has produced solid results. When Kevin Gausman has gotten five days' rest, he is 2-2 with a 3.53 ERA in nine starts. Over 51 innings he has...

NEW YORK - Jeremy Hellickson walked Chase Headley today with two outs in the bottom of the third inning and received a group visit from head athletic trainer Richie Bancells, manager Buck Showalter and pitching coach Roger McDowell. Only three of them returned to the dugout. Hellickson stayed on the mound without throwing a single warmup pitch. Whatever happened to initiate the meeting must have passed. If only the same could be said for everything that's ailing the Orioles over the final...