The Orioles have designated second baseman Johnny Giavotella for assignment this afternoon to create a roster spot for infielder Tim Beckham. They will continue to go with a 13-man pitching staff. Giavotella is 1-for-10 in seven games. He's started twice, most recently on July 16 against the Cubs. Beckham, who's wearing No. 1, is playing shortstop tonight and batting sixth. Seth Smith is the designated hitter while Joey Rickard plays right field. In his last 10 games, Manny Machado has gone...

If there's one thing that marked the 2017 season in the Nationals minors, it's how few, far between and slow promotions have been. To clarify, I'm talking about upward moves from the low-to-mid minors based on merit, not the needs-based shift from Triple-A to the majors. Granted, nobody in their right mind wants to return to the days when an old-for-the-level, low Single-A guy is moved to Double-a in the space of 10 days (Bill Rhinehart, 2008) or a southpaw moved up from high Single-A to the...

MIAMI - Gio Gonzalez was the talk of Little Havana on Monday night. And he was more than deserving of all the attention, considering the man carried a no-hitter into the bottom of the ninth at Marlins Park. But the Nationals' 1-0 victory would not have been secured had Sean Doolittle not been able to take over once Gonzalez surrendered his lone hit of the night and then record the game's final three outs, all while facing the heart of Miami's lineup with no margin for error. Doolittle was...

The Orioles' first game after the non-waiver trade deadline came and went was a success. They won 2-1 in walk-off fashion over one of baseball's hottest teams, the Kansas City Royals. Coming into this series, Kansas City had won two of three in Fenway Park and was 10-1 in its last 11 games. The Royals' 33-18 record since June 1 was second-best in the majors to the Dodgers at 41-10 and the Royals were 14-8 versus American League East teams, including 3-0 against the Orioles. So, yeah, that...

If you were riding the Twitter roller coaster yesterday, you believed in the morning that Orioles reliever Zach Britton was staying, then by early afternoon you were convinced that he was a goner - most likely to the Astros, who reportedly were "close" to a deal - then told again that he was staying. Maybe you raised your arms instead of holding onto the bar. Maybe you found a bar and turned it into a drinking game. The Orioles fielded offers for Britton. They weren't satisfied with the...

MIAMI - When it was over, when Dee Gordon lined his 1-1 curveball cleanly into left-center field to open the bottom of the ninth to end his flirtation with history, Gio Gonzalez knew it was time to call it a night. There were still three outs to go before the Nationals could secure a 1-0 victory over the Marlins, and Gonzalez's pitch count was a manageable 106. But this wasn't about workload or trying to go the distance. Emotionally speaking, the lefty was done. "I'll be honest with you: It...

Zach Britton's day began with him yet again at the center of trade rumors. He ended it yet again doing a solid job for the Orioles. He pitched a scoreless ninth tonight and was the winning pitcher in the Orioles' 2-1 walk-off win over Kansas City. It was a nice start to a three-game series and weeklong homestand on a day where Britton went through a range of emotions. "I just tried to treat it like a normal day," Britton said after his 10-pitch outing. "I understood there was stuff flying...

The non-waiver trade deadline passed this afternoon and the Orioles played their first game as confirmed buyers, with the pending arrival of infielder Tim Beckham following Friday night's acquisition of starter Jeremy Hellickson. No one is being flipped for prospects. The bullpen is intact. The only stripping takes place before showering. The newbies couldn't impact tonight's game. Beckham isn't on the 25-man roster and Hellickson won't make his debut until Wednesday night. Pitcher Yefry...

This was a nice way to start a homestand. Ubaldo Jiménez gave his team an outstanding start. He didn't get the win, but his team did with a walk-off victory in the last of the ninth. The Orioles beat Kansas City 2-1 in front of 20,663 at Oriole Park in the opener of a three-game series. Joakim Soria came on for the ninth for Kansas City and Caleb Joseph singled to center with one out. He advanced to second on Rubén Tejada's two-out single, which snapped an 0-for-19 stretch. That brought...

MIAMI - Imagine the emotions Gio Gonzalez must have felt when he took the mound tonight at Marlins Park. He was pitching in his hometown, with family and friends in attendance. He was pitching in the ballpark that hosted the All-Star Game three weeks ago, a game the left-hander desperately wanted to participate in. And he was pitching on what would have been José Fernández's 25th birthday, a melancholy reminder of a baseball friend who was lost too soon. Now imagine how Gonzalez managed...