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NEW YORK - The first sign that Orioles manager Buck Showalter was ready to empty his bench Thursday night came in the bottom of the sixth inning when Austin Hays headed out to center field as the replacement for Adam Jones. Showalter would step out of the dugout again before the top of the seventh to alert plate umpire Brian O'Nora of more changes.
As the bottom half unfolded, Hays shifted over to right field and Joey Rickard took over in center. Rule 5 pick Anthony Santander played left...
Most minor league players do not put up much better statistics in Double-A than they posted at lower levels on the farm. But outfielder DJ Stewart is not like most minor league players.
Written off on some message boards as a first-round bust when he hit .218 at short-season Single-A Aberdeen after the 2015 draft, Stewart emerged this season with the best year of his career. It ended with him ranking among the Eastern League leaders in several offensive categories.
It also ended with Stewart as...
There was an undeniable buzz at Nationals Park tonight, with the National League's two best clubs opening a weekend series and drawing extra media attention and a boisterous crowd of 37,508 to South Capitol Street.
Three innings later, with the Dodgers up seven runs and Edwin Jackson taking an early trip to the showers, that buzz had devolved into a soft hum. That was the sound of a lopsided 7-0 result in a game that, truth be told, probably didn't mean nearly as much as everyone wanted it to...
NEW YORK - The leash on Gabriel Ynoa tonight stretched only into the fifth inning, giving him enough slack to throw 64 pitches. He came out of a tie game at Yankee Stadium following a one-out walk. Miguel Castro got busy again.
Castro also got burned.
Didi Gregorius hit a two-run homer off Castro to put the Yankees in front, and the Orioles continued their freefall with a 8-2 loss before an announced crowd of 40,460.
The Orioles (72-76) have lost eight of nine games, moving four below .500 for...
NEW YORK - Orioles manager Buck Showalter decided to rest Adam Jones tonight. Or more specifically, the center fielder's legs.
Austin Hays is playing center field in his first major league start. Jones is expected back in the lineup on Saturday afternoon.
"The turf bit him pretty good over in Toronto, and the couple pickoff plays at second that kind of made him wince a little bit," Showalter said. "I thought it was best to give him a day, especially with the 4 o'clock and 1 o'clock. He's...
NEW YORK - The Orioles aren't done bringing up their top prospects over the final weeks of the season.
Left-hander Tanner Scott is expected to join the club in New York this weekend, according to an industry source. Scott would join catcher Chance Sisco and outfielder Austin Hays as additions to the expanded roster.
Scott, 23, went 0-2 with a 2.22 ERA in 24 starts at Double-A Bowie, with 17 runs and 45 hits in 69 innings. He walked 46 batters and struck out 87, and opponents batted .188...
When he was trying to shake off the pitch that caught him square on the left ankle in the bottom of the second inning Thursday night, Jose Lobaton was asked by Nationals director of athletic training Paul Lessard if he could walk.
In that moment, Lobaton honestly couldn't, so he told Lessard he needed to come out of the game. That justifiably had the Nationals concerned about the long-term health of their No. 2 catcher, but those fears were alleviated when X-rays on Lobaton's ankle came back...
NEW YORK - Austin Hays is making his first major league start tonight, replacing Adam Jones in center field.
Manager Buck Showalter wants to give Jones a night off before the two day games that follow.
Pedro Ãlvarez is serving as the designated hitter in his first start of 2017.
Trey Mancini leads all rookies with 42 multi-hit games.
Tim Beckham is 10-for-54 (.185) this month. Chris Davis is 6-for-45 (.133) with 21 strikeouts.
The Orioles and Rays are tied for third place in the American...
As the Orioles look to get their offense going again, tonight they face the challenge of New York Yankees right-hander Luis Severino (12-6, 2.96 ERA). Severino is third in the American League in ERA, opponents batting average (.209) and WHIP (1.05) and fourth with 211 strikeouts.
He has been even better than his overall stats in the second half. The 23-year-old Severino is 7-2 with a 2.07 ERA in 11 starts since the break. That is the best ERA in the league in that time and he has given up one...
The Nationals haven't played any truly meaningful pennant-race games in mid-to-late September in any of the last six seasons. They've always either clinched the division or been too far back to have a realistic chance, leaving these last two weeks of the regular season to relatively meaningless ball.
This weekend, then, provides the closest thing we may experience to exciting pennant-race baseball. The Dodgers are in town, and so this is a showdown between the National League's top two...