The Nationals can't say - with a straight face, at least - they knew with 100 percent certainty what they'd get out of Gio Gonzalez last night. Not in his season debut. Not a full 16 days removed from his last appearance on the mound. But when the left-hander navigated his way through a 13-pitch top of the first, they had reason to be optimistic. And when he made it through the third without allowing a run and with a manageable pitch count of 46, they had to be even more encouraged. And by...

BOSTON - The recent and more distant pasts of Ubaldo Jimenez will collide tonight in the series finale against the Red Sox. Jimenez held the Twins to one earned run over seven innings on April 7, walking none and striking out nine. Manager Buck Showalter extended him to 106 pitches and it paid off. No other Orioles starter has gone more than five innings. Jimenez stands tallest in the rotation. He's been chopped at the knees when facing the Red Sox. Jimenez is 2-4 with a 7.26 ERA and 1.781...

Utility infielder Stephen Drew notched the first hit in an eighth-inning rally that helped to lift the Nationals past the Braves 2-1. For a player trying to make an impact with his new team and not getting many shots at doing just that, this was a very nice first step. "That was great. That was his first hit as a National," Baker said. "I told him before the game, he's playing tomorrow. (Anthony) Rendon's getting a day off. I hope he can come through tomorrow as well as he did today....

BOSTON - The Orioles are having so much fun these days, they even found tremendous joy tonight in two J.J. Hardy home runs that sneaked inside the Pesky Pole in right field. They got a lot of mileage out of two balls that measured 321 and 331 feet. Hardy couldn't contain his smile as he rounded the bases after the second, also a two-run shot in the seventh inning that gave him five RBIs and contributed to the Orioles' 9-5 win over the Red Sox. "I don't think I hit one ball to the right of...

It was cold, with a steady wind having been blowing in from left field all night. What remained of an already-sparse crowd of 18,378 was praying for something good to happen, for somebody to finally break through and post something other than a zero on the scoreboard for the first time all evening. And then, with one well-timed swing from Bryce Harper, everyone inside Nationals Park was jumping up and down, the long wait on this chilly April night well worth it. Harper's two-out, two-run...

The Nationals dropped the Braves 2-1 behind outstanding pitching from starter Gio Gonzalez and the bullpen. Shawn Kelley, Oliver Perez, Blake Treinen and Felipe Rivero managed to hold the Braves to one run over the final three innings. Manager Dusty Baker again singled out Treinen for finding a way to keep the Braves at bay. "This is why you like that sinkerballer on your staff because they can throw that double-play ground ball," Baker said. "You can get out of trouble. Any time you can...

It's a week into the 2016 season, and Nationals closer Jonathan Papelbon has looked good. But that most important of baseball engineering marvels, the bridge to the closer, is far from concrete. The issue is that they have several decent set-up man candidates, but no shoe-in. This shouldn't be something to worry about, though. Instead, Dusty Baker and Mike Maddux could turn it into a real positive. With no set-up man, they have the freedom to shape the end of each game as they see fit. Shawn...

It looks like the Orioles offense has come to life. Tonight, they used all parts of the ballpark to hit three homers and beat Boston 9-5 at Fenway Park. The Orioles scored seven consecutive runs after falling behind 4-2 on their way to the first 7-0 start in Baltimore Orioles team history. Shortstop J.J. Hardy hit not one, but two homers into the right field corner at Fenway, that area near the Pesky Pole. The first tied the game 2-2 in the fourth. The second added to a lead and made it 9-4 in...

Bryce Harper went hitless on Monday night. That is not going to happen very many times. Battling in a scoreless duel with the Braves, the Nationals slugger laced a double down the left field line in the eighth inning to score two runs as the Nationals downed Atlanta 2-1. Chants of "M-V-P! M-V-P!" erupted from a few of the 18,378 faithful on a chilly Tuesday night. Blake Treinen (2-0) pitched 1 1/3 innings for his second win. The Braves tallied a run in the ninth. Felipe Rivero recorded the...

Making his first appearance of the regular season and his first appearance of any kind in 16 days, Gio Gonzalez took the mound tonight at Nationals Park not entirely knowing for sure what to expect. Three innings later, the left-hander has to be pleased with the results so far: nothing but zeros. Gonzalez's season debut got off to a strong start, with only one hit surrendered to the Braves through three scoreless innings. There was a two-out walk issued to Freddie Freeman in the top of the...