Nationals center fielder Michael A. Taylor (oblique) continues his rehab tonight with the high Single-A Potomac Nationals at Winston-Salem. He is expected to start in center field. He took Thursday off. Taylor has hit in three games for the P-Nats, going 2-for-7 (.286) with two intentional walks, two strikeouts, two runs and a stolen base. Potomac manager Tripp Keister says there is a back story to the pair of intentional walks, which relates to the rivalry between Lynchburg and his club. The...

Winning five in a row and 11 of 16 games was not going to undo what two-plus months of poor baseball brought about: a losing record for the Orioles. They have been an under .500 team every day since June 30. But losing last night by a 7-5 score to the Tigers is also not going to wash away the turnaround that the Orioles started to make about two weeks ago. But the team and its management have gotten some criticism for not trading off key players at the non-waiver trade deadline. They are...

Mychal Givens is providing the ultimate example of a pitcher who's picking up right where he left off. From last year's wild card game in Toronto to a dominant 2017 regular season. And without the hassles at customs. Givens retired all seven Blue Jays that he faced at Rogers Centre, striking out three of them, before the Orioles lost 5-2 in 11 innings. (In case you are unaware, Zach Britton didn't pitch and Edwin Encarnacion hit a three-run homer off Ubaldo Jiménez in the 11th. Michael...

The Orioles kept chipping away tonight at the Tigers' substantial early lead. They were reduced to mining for anything positive while losing a game and valuable ground in the wild card chase. Miguel Castro was outstanding in relief of starter Chris Tillman, working a career-high six scoreless innings and allowing only one hit. Tim Beckham had a costly fielding error, but he also went 3-for-4 with a double and his first Orioles home run. Craig Gentry had two hits, twice stole third base and...

As right-hander Chris Tillman struggled badly again tonight and the Orioles trailed 7-0 in the third inning, two questions came to mind: Would this outing knock Tillman from the rotation, and could the team come back from so far down? The first answer will have to wait and the second is no, not tonight. Not quite. Detroit held off the Orioles 7-5 to snap the club's five-game win streak. It was the opener of a four-game series. Tillman's miserable season continued, as he allowed six hits and...

CHICAGO - The Nationals still have 56 games to play, the Cubs 55. More than one-third of the season remains. But we'd be lying to ourselves if we didn't point out that this weekend's series at Wrigley Field is very likely going to be a preview of the National League Division Series. The Nats have been running away with the NL East for months, leading the division by an average of 10 games since Memorial Day. The Cubs may only lead the Brewers by 1 1/2 games in the NL Central at the moment,...

The Orioles have turned two triple plays this season, but they can't turn around Chris Tillman. No matter how hard everyone tries. A group effort brings glimmers of hope and more despair. Tillman failed to record an out in the third inning and was charged with five earned runs and seven total to put the Orioles behind 7-0 and raise his ERA to 8.10. And the rotation's recent roll has been halted. Rain continues to torment the Orioles and anyone who dares to step inside Camden Yards. It comes...

For the first time in more than a month, the Orioles can reach the .500 mark tonight. They were 39-39 on June 29 and have been an under-.500 team since. But a five-game win streak and 11 wins the past 16 games have them at 53-54 heading into tonight's series opener with Detroit. The five-game streak is one shy of a season high. They won six in a row from May 4-9 with one win versus Boston, three against the Chicago White Sox and two against Washington. The Orioles and Tigers open a four-game...

Trey Mancini continues to bat cleanup for the Orioles while Mark Trumbo is on the disabled list and the opponents keep starting left-handers. Mancini is nestled between Jonathan Schoop and Chris Davis as the Orioles begin their four-game series against the Tigers, who are sending Matthew Boyd to the mound. With an infield hit and double last night, Mancini raised his season average to .302 with a .351 on-base percentage and .524 slugging percentage. He's collected seven hits in his last 18...

It is probably obvious, but as the non-waiver trade deadline approached on Monday, one group that didn't necessarily want the Orioles to look to the future is the current group of players. Some players have told me that they would have understood if the team had started to look to the future. The Orioles were seven games under .500 about two and a half weeks ago. But even after a long stretch of losing baseball, the players insisted they could still make a playoff push. Executive vice...