Kevin Gausman will start the first game against the Pirates on Tuesday night in Pittsburgh, the latest rotation revelation for the Orioles as they weigh all of their pitching options in the final week of the season. Manager Buck Showalter said Wednesday was "a little up in the air." "We've got on our board five options, depending on who we have to use out of the bullpen and some other things that go on there," Showalter said. Miguel Castro isn't likely to get a start next week, mostly due...

After winning 3-1 over Tampa Bay on Thursday and losing 8-3 last night, the Orioles host the Rays tonight in Game 3 of the final home series of the year. At 74-81 with seven games to play, the only thing standing between the Orioles and finishing this season with a losing record is one more loss. Anything short of a 7-0 finish will ensure that. The Orioles have lost seven of nine and 13 of 16. Since they won seven in a row to improve to three games over .500 on Aug. 30, they are...

NEW YORK - First, the most important news of the day: Bryce Harper (along with Brian Goodwin and Stephen Drew) batted in another simulated game today, facing Nationals minor leaguers Steven Fuentes and Alex Troop. By all indications (i.e., from what I could tell from my vantage point up in the press box) things went well, which means it should be decision time for the Nats with Harper, who doesn't seem to have any more hurdles to cross before playing in an actual game. Stay tuned for any...

Mark Trumbo is back in the Orioles lineup tonight as the designated hitter. Austin Hays continues to play right field. Welington Castillo is catching. Left-handers are hitting .216 against Tampa Bay right-hander Jake Odorizzi this season and .222 in his career. He's a reverse-splits guy and the lineups against him reflect it. Adam Jones is 13-for-40 (.325) with a double and two home runs lifetime against Odorizzi. Jonathan Schoop is 8-for-24 (.333) with three doubles and a home run. Manny...

It was an article that stirred up some fans around Birdland. It was an article that also stirred up some of those that work in Birdland, including Orioles executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette and MASN broadcaster Jim Palmer. MLBPipeline.com analyst Jim Callis recently ranked the top 30 current rookies in terms of their future potential and who would have the best long-term career. Players were not selected for their Rookie of the Year potential for 2017, but rather...

NEW YORK - It's no secret the Nationals are using the final two weeks of the regular season to make some final evaluations of players who are in the mix for the handful of postseason roster spots up for grabs. Which makes games like Friday night's at Citi Field - a 7-6 loss to the Mets - meaningful, but in a different way than most have been all season long. "We have the luxury," manager Dusty Baker said. "We don't like to lose, but we have the luxury of trying to find out what they can...

Orioles manager Buck Showalter sat Mark Trumbo for last night's game against the Rays and gave Chris Davis another start at first base. He's tried rest and repetition, but nothing has worked to ignite the two sluggers. Time is fast running out. Trumbo is 12-for-64 (.188) this month, including a current 0-for-16 stretch with seven strikeouts that's dropped his season average to .235. His .290 on-base percentage would be the lowest of his career, a hair worse than the .291 he posted with the...

Ubaldo Jiménez would like to get back two pitches thrown tonight in the second inning. Both of them 92 mph fastballs. Both ending up in bad locations. Both causing a lot of pain. One fastball was planted in the back of leadoff hitter Logan Morrison with the count 0-2. The other was launched to left field by Wilson Ramos for a grand slam. If Jiménez was making his final Camden Yards start with the Orioles, as presumed, he went out in a blaze of gory. Jiménez allowed six runs over three...

NEW YORK - They played the kids, and some of them provided some uplifting moments. But the Nationals lost tonight's series opener to the Mets, 7-6, not because of anything their rookies did but because of what two struggling veteran pitchers did. Starter Edwin Jackson continued his September tailspin, giving up six runs in 4 2/3 innings - five of those runs coming in the bottom of the fifth alone - to turn a big lead into a tie game. Joe Blanton then surrendered the go-ahead run in the bottom...

The Orioles ended a three-game losing streak and won for just the second time in eight games when they beat Tampa Bay 3-1 on Thursday night. The Orioles host the Rays tonight in the second game of a four-game series to end the home schedule for 2017. At 74-80, the Orioles need to go 7-1 or 8-0 the rest of the way for a .500 or better finish. They have lost 15 of 21 games and are 45-33 at home. The win last night improved the Orioles' record to just 16-54 when they score three runs or less....