Ian Desmond was one of the few offensive bright spots for the Nationals in their untimely 6-4 loss to the Marlins last night. The 29-year-old smacked a two-run homer in the second to even the score and then drove in two more in the eighth on a clutch two-out single, accounting for the entire Nats tally on the scoreboard. Desmond's home run delivered the only runs the Nationals managed against Marlins right-hander Jarred Cosarts. "To be honest, I just caught it a little out front," Desmond...

When the Double-A Eastern League regular season ended, it appeared that Altoona's Adam Frazier, who hit .324, would win the league's batting title. Bowie's Trey Mancini hit .359, but he did not have enough plate appearances to qualify for league leaders, which is 2.7 plate appearances per league games scheduled. But through Rule 9.22(a), formerly Rule 10.22(a), Mancini won the batting title. The rule states in part that: * Any player with fewer than the required number of plate appearances...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Now it's Tyler Wilson's turn. The Orioles aren't holding auditions for their 2016 rotation. It only seems that way with Wilson getting the start tonight after Mike Wright took the mound again on Wednesday. This is being done more out of necessity. Miguel Gonzalez is on the disabled list. The list of alternatives is short. We're not even talking cocktail napkin short. No replacement is going to carry a lengthy track record of success at the major league level. It comes...

The Nationals got off to a rough start on their final homestand, suffering a costly 6-4 loss to the Marlins. Certainly the Nats will point to dropping six straight to the first-place Mets if they fail to make the playoffs, but they have also lost three of four to the Marlins over the last week. At 19 games under .500 for the season, Miami holds a 9-7 record over Washington this year. Right-hander Tanner Roark was done in by the longball in his third straight start. Martin Prado blasted a...

Right-hander Tanner Roark had a rough first inning against the Marlins on Thursday. His fifth, and last inning, was even worse. Roark allowed a two-run shot to Martin Prado in the first frame and a three-run homer to Justin Bour in the fifth. That provided the Marlins almost all the offense they needed in a 6-4 win. "I gave up six runs," Roark said. "As a starter, you're not supposed to do that. You're supposed to limit the damage done, and I didn't do my job today. Honestly, that's the...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Orioles won't say that the eighth inning tonight was the most important of the season. They turned a 3-0 deficit into a 4-3 lead and won for the seventh time in nine games, trimming their deficit for the second wild card to 4 1/2 games. Every loss is devastating as they try to make up ground. Most important inning of the season? They're not going to label it. They'll just enjoy it and move on to Friday night's game. "I wouldn't say that," said Adam Jones, who...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Orioles came to life tonight after Rays starter Matt Moore left the game. They also came from behind to take a 4-3 lead. Moore held them to two hits over seven scoreless innings, with no walks and nine strikeouts. He hadn't gone more than five innings in any of his eight previous starts in 2015 or struck out more than four batters. Rays manager Kevin Cash brought in Alex Colome to work the eighth with Moore's pitch count at 93 and the Orioles trailing 3-0. And he...

BOWIE, Md. - The Double-A Bowie Baysox won big Wednesday night but lost big tonight. Now they'll have to win any way they can the next two nights to claim the Eastern League championship. Reading's Fightin Phils hammered Bowie 9-3 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five Eastern League Championship Series. Bowie had evened the series with a 10-3 win last night at Reading. Ranked as baseball's No. 43 best prospect at the end of last season by Baseball America, Reading right-hander Jake...

The Nationals' Bryce Harper, 22, is the sixth youngest in baseball history to hit 40 home runs in a season, joining Mel Ott, Eddie Mathews, Johnny Bench, Joe DiMaggio and Juan Gonzalez. The first four are in the Hall of Fame, and Gonzalez won two American League MVP awards with Texas. Harper is the favorite to be the National League's MVP, but hitting 40 home runs at a young age hasn't guaranteed MVP hardware in the past. Here's a look: - Mathews led the NL with 47 home runs in 1953 for the...

Dee Gordon singled to center to start tonight's game. Two batters later, Martin Prado smacked a hanging slider from Tanner Roark over the wall in left-center for a two-run homer. Update: Jayson Werth drew a leadoff walk in the second. After Clint Robinson grounded out, Ian Desmond hit a missile into the Marlins bullpen. The two-run homer was Desmond's 18th of the season, but first in his his last 18 games. Update II: Miguel Rojas doubled to start the fifth. After advancing to third on...