WASHINGTON - Center fielder Adam Jones remains out the Orioles lineup for tonight's game against the Nationals. He's been battling back spasms.Gerardo Parra will start in center field and Ryan Flaherty will play right field.Jones tweeted the following after the lineup was posted: Feeling better. Not quite there yet #StayHungry. -- 10 (@SimplyAJ10) September 23, 2015 Chris Tillman is 0-for-10 lifetime with a run scored and three strikeouts. He gets to face Max Scherzer tonight. Miguel...

Right-hander Max Scherzer makes his second start of the season against the Orioles tonight. Scherzer nearly threw a complete game in Baltimore on July 12, leaving with two outs in the ninth after Adam Jones' second homer. Drew Storen came on to close out a 3-2 win for the Nationals in the final game before the All-Star break. Scherzer is 1-0 with a 1.20 ERA in his last two starts, both wins for the Nationals over the Marlins. His 237 strikeouts are second highest in the National League to the...

WASHINGTON - The traffic getting into D.C. today was the same as the previous two days despite the arrival of Pope Francis. No reason to leave the house any earlier, but I'm already seated in the Nationals Park press box while the grounds crew waters the infield and Paul Janish chats with Reed Johnson in shallow center field. The Orioles will take early batting practice beneath a blue sky, with hardly a trace of clouds overhead. The nicest day so far since the Orioles arrived here. How's that...

The Orioles may have been fortunate to win a game last night where they made three errors and allowed six walks. But still they posted a 4-1 victory over Washington in the opener of a three-game series at Nationals Park. The Orioles improved to 74-76 with their sixth win in the last nine games and ninth in their past 13 games. They improved to 24-27 in the first game of a series and to 10-8 versus National League teams in 2015. Manny Machado recorded his 500th career hit on Tuesday night....

After last night's 4-1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles, the Washington Nationals are 6 1/2 games back while the New York Mets maintain first place in the National League East. All other teams in the division have already been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. The magic number is six. No matter what happens at the tail end of the 2015 season, though, the unfortunate part of the year - besides possibly missing the playoffs, since it's not a done deal yet - is the fact that this team...

Bryce Harper changed history again last night, breaking a record that represents the respect and fear opposing teams have for him while also validating the vulnerability of the Nats lineup surrounding him. Orioles right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez actually went ahead 0-2 on Harper in the first before shying away from the strike zone with four consecutive balls. Harper's 116th free pass tied him with former slugger Adam Dunn's 2009 mark for most walks in a single season in Nationals history. With...

Looks aren't everything, and the same rule applies to baseball games. The Orioles looked sloppy last night, committing three errors and failing to make a few other plays that didn't show up in the box score. Chris Davis missed a pop-up in foul territory with two outs in the ninth inning, but Darren O'Day stranded a runner that reached on Steve Pearce's dropped fly ball down the right field line. Jonathan Schoop made a tremendous catch in shallow right field with his back to the infield,...

Heading into last night's game, the Washington Nationals were averaging 6.0 runs per game over their previous 32 games, scoring 193 runs and going 20-12. But for one night anyway, the Orioles slowed the Washington offense, holding the Nats to three hits in a 4-1 win on Tuesday in the opener of a three-game series. Considering the Orioles made three errors - and one or two other plays could have been scored errors - and walked six, holding the Nats to one run was no easy task. But they did it...

WASHINGTON - Darren O'Day closed out the Orioles' 4-1 win over the Nationals tonight, leading to more speculation over Zach Britton's health. Britton blew a save Sunday against the Rays after O'Day was called upon to get the last three outs in the series opener. Britton explained tonight that he's bothered by a sore left lat muscle and basically is day-to-day at this point. The discomfort surfaced during the previous series against the Red Sox at Camden Yards. "At this point in the...

Left-hander Gio Gonzalez got into some trouble in the second inning with an issue that has hurt him in the past: walks. Two walks in that frame fueled an Orioles rally. Baltimore got back-to-back run-scoring base hits from Ubaldo Jimenez and Nolan Reimold to lead 2-0. Later, the top of the order went after Gonzalez in the fifth. RBI doubles from Chris Davis and Steve Pearce added to the Orioles' advantage. The Orioles eventually won the game 4-1. "The inning that (Gonzalez) gave up the two...