TORONTO - The Orioles will look to break a five-game losing streak overall and a five-game losing streak at Rogers Centre this afternoon as they play the series finale against the Blue Jays. After losing back-to-back games by 6-5 and 9-1 scores, the Orioles have fallen to second place in the American League East, a half-game behind Toronto. They could reclaim the top spot in the division with a win today. According to STATS, LLC., the Orioles have spent 99 of 119 days this season alone in or...

SAN FRANCISCO - Reynaldo Lopez was undone in his first career start by leaving too many fastballs over the heart of the plate. He was undone in his second career start by not putting enough pitches over any portion of the plate. The young Nationals prospect battled command issues throughout Saturday's outing against the Giants, resulting in five walks and an elevated pitch count that prevented him from remaining in the game beyond the fourth inning. The manner in which he put San Francisco's...

SAN FRANCISCO - In his eight seasons as general manager of the Nationals, Mike Rizzo has rarely traded for a player who isn't under club control beyond the current season. The situation this summer, however, is quite different, and so Rizzo didn't hesitate to go against his usual mantra in acquiring Mark Melancon to be his closer for the next two months. "I just think that his resume and his performance level dictated that he was a guy to really go after and attack," Rizzo said this evening...

SAN FRANCISCO - The Nationals will be getting much-needed bullpen reinforcement Sunday when new closer Mark Melancon joins the club following his trade from the Pirates. But before that happened, they still needed to get through the latter innings of this afternoon's game against the Giants. And that proved a significant challenge. Three relievers combined to give up a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh, helping hand San Francisco a 5-3 victory at AT&T Park. Forced to turn to his...

TORONTO - The Orioles need a win today to avoid a sweep, keep this from being a completely lost weekend in Toronto and keep from falling 1 1/2 games out of first place. There is one stark difference between these teams this year - starting pitching. While Toronto's rotation ERA of 3.72 is second best in the American League, the Orioles' is second-worst at 5.02 We've seen that play out in this series. O's starters Kevin Gausman and Yovani Gallardo have combined to allow 11 runs and four...

The Orioles' season ended in New York. It started up again after they returned to Camden Yards. It ended again this weekend in Toronto. It's so hard to keep up, which is where Twitter comes in handy. The offense remains in a deep freeze, scoring only one run yesterday on Pedro Alvarez's homer off left-hander J.A. Happ. Alvarez was 3-for-24 with no home runs against southpaws before yesterday, but he was 3-for-7 versus Happ, a reverse splits guy who holds right-handers to a lower...

SAN FRANCISCO - Mark Melancon is expected to join the Nationals in time for Sunday's series finale against the Giants and told reporters in Milwaukee (where the Pirates are currently playing) he believes he'll immediately be available to close for his new club. The Nationals will need to make another roster move to clear a spot for Melancon, but the trade comes at a particularly fortuitous time for the team that allows them to make a simple transaction. With three off-days coming up in the...

TORONTO - The Orioles will have to wait another day for their next shot to pick up a win at Rogers Centre. They've now lost five in a row in this ballpark and the first two games of this series after today's 9-1 defeat. The result produced a change in the standings as the Blue Jays (59-45) moved a half-game ahead of the Orioles (58-45) atop the American League East. The Blue Jays are in first for the first time since they were 2-0. They've won 16 of their last 22 games and are 15-5 in their...

The Washington Nationals recalled right-handed pitcher Reynaldo Lopez from Triple-A Syracuse on Saturday. Nationals president of baseball operations and general manager Mike Rizzo made the announcement. Lopez returns to the Nationals for the second start of his major league career, which he will make Saturday afternoon in San Francisco. The 22-year-old made his major league debut on July 19 against the Los Angeles Dodgers. In that outing, Lopez struck out nine batters, the second-most by a...

The Washington Nationals acquired All-Star right-handed pitcher Mark Melancon from the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday, in exchange for left-handed pitcher Felipe Rivero and minor league left-handed pitcher Taylor Hearn. Nationals president of baseball operations and general manager Mike Rizzo made the announcement. Melancon, 31, comes to the Nationals on the heels of nearly four seasons as the Pirates closer, in which he's amassed the fourth-most saves in Pirates history (130). A three-time...