ANAHEIM, Calif. - Dusty Baker handed the ball to three pitchers during tonight's 4-3 victory over the Angels. Not one was a member of the active roster until 2:30 p.m., each summoned to join this staff at this particular moment in time out of necessity. Edwin Jackson was here because Joe Ross blew out his elbow and suddenly this team with All-Stars anchoring its rotation needed a fifth starter. The 33-year-old journeyman promptly threw seven innings of two-run, three-hit ball to earn his first...

The Orioles reminded themselves how it can look when pitching and hitting come together in the same game. They scored six runs before they made a single out last night in beating Texas 12-1 at Camden Yards yesterday. Chris Davis hit a two-run homer during the Orioles big first inning and added his eighth career grand slam in the fourth as the Orioles built the early 10-1 lead. The Orioles had 16 hits, including two doubles and four homers and went 5-for-12 with runners in scoring position. It...

Not that more examples are required to drive home the point that the Orioles' rotation has been a mess, but Kevin Gausman's 71 earned runs allowed ranked highest in the majors before last night, followed by Ubaldo Jiménez and the Giants' Matt Moore with 68. Gausman's 20 starts were tied for first. It's a large sample size. Gausman brings a 6.39 ERA and 1.790 WHIP into tonight's game against the Rangers. Since tossing seven scoreless innings against the Rays, he's allowed a combined 13...

The Orioles offense had produced just six runs and two homers the last three games. They matched those numbers in the first six batters of the last of the first tonight. But it would get even better. First baseman Chris Davis hit two homers, one a grand slam, and drove in a career-high six runs as the Orioles hammered Texas 12-1 at Camden Yards. On the second pitch of the game, Texas outfielder Shin-Soo Choo homered off right-hander Dylan Bundy. But it was all Orioles from there. Adam Jones...

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Jayson Werth is back with the Nationals, and that part he likes. But he's not back playing with the Nationals, and likely won't be for some time with his left foot still ailing, and that part he does not like. "It's doing better," Werth said this afternoon. "It's just frustrating because this injury, the bone that's injured is crucial for running." The bone that's injured is the first metatarsal, the large bone at the base of his big toe. And in addition to the bone...

The Orioles are a streaky little bunch. And that includes little streaks. They won the last two games before the break, were swept by the Cubs in a three-game series to start the second half and have beaten the Rangers twice in a row. These are small-sample-size streaks, but they've again put the Orioles five games below .500 and intensified the debate over buyers versus sellers versus standing pat. Chris Davis homered twice and drove in six runs, belting his eighth career grand slam, and...

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle are both here, both wearing Nationals uniforms - Madson wearing No. 44, Doolittle wearing No. 62 - and both insist they're ready and available for whatever role Dusty Baker envisions for the newly acquired relievers. What roles exactly will those be? Well, the answer for now is a simple-yet-unsatisfying one: Baker doesn't know. Madson and Doolittle certainly will be pitching late innings for the Nationals, particularly when they hold a lead....

The Orioles suddenly are playing again like a club that hasn't conceded the 2017 season, no matter its placement in the standings and the wild card race. The optimism comes and goes, just like the run production that resurfaced in the first inning. To be determined is how many of the current players will be part of any attempts to make another run at contention. Majority owner Peter G. Angelos met early this afternoon with executive vice president Dan Duquette regarding the direction of the...

After getting a quality start and a win in well-pitched game last night, the Orioles shoot for two in a row tonight. Chris Tillman allowed one run over six innings in last night's 3-1 win over Texas. Tillman was pitching on 16 days' rest last night, and right-hander Dylan Bundy (8-8, 4.33 ERA) will be pitching on 11 days' rest tonight since his last start on July 6 at Minnesota. Bundy had a 3.05 ERA after his June 9 start against the Yankees. But in five starts since that game he is 2-3 with...

ANAHEIM, Calif. - The Nationals have made only two previous trips to Angel Stadium in their history, and boy were they eventful. In 2005, Frank Robinson (with some help from Jose Guillen) fought Mike Scioscia. In 2011, Davey Johnson returned to a big league dugout for the first time in a decade. Now, in 2017, Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson officially join the Nats, and Edwin Jackson officially rejoins the Nats after five years away. The club announced its flurry of roster moves this afternoon....