Manager: Craig Counsell (1st season) Record: 52-70 Last 10 games: 5-5 Who to watch: RF Ryan Braun (.276/.345/.499 with 22 HR, 72 RBIs), 1B Adam Lind (.284/.364/.479 with 17 HR, 67 RBIs), LF Khris Davis (14 HR, 41 RBIs), RHP Taylor Jungmann (7-4, 2.23 ERA), RHP Francisco Rodriquez (30 saves, 2.06 ERA) Season series vs. Nationals: 2-2 Pitching probables: Aug. 21: RHP Jimmy Nelson vs. LHP Gio Gonzalez, 7:05 p.m., MASN2 Aug. 22: RHP Taylor Jungmann vs. TBA, 7:05 p.m., MASN2 Aug. 23: RHP Matt Garza...

Henry Urrutia gets another start in left field tonight after his walk-off home run last night in the bottom of the ninth inning. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Urrutia is the first Cuban-born player whose first major league home run was a walk-off since 1968, when Cubs rookie Jose Arcia went deep at Wrigley Field for the only homer of his three-year career. Also according to Elias, the Orioles hadn't hit three game-tying or go-ahead home runs in the sixth inning or later in one game...

Orioles outfielder Steve Pearce is beginning his injury rehab assignment today with the Gulf Coast League team in Sarasota. He singled in his first at-bat as the leadoff hitter and designated hitter against the GCL Twins. Pearce is on the disabled list retroactive to July 19 with a strained left oblique muscle. He took live batting practice again yesterday and survived a pitch from Chris Perez that nailed him in the back. Pearce experienced a slight setback last week when his oblique tightened...

With the Nationals' 4-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday evening, they won back-to-back games for the first time since July 29 and 30. It was also the first series that the Nats have won in the month of August. The Nats' recent cold stretch has put them in an unfamiliar position. In 2012 and 2014, I wrote this same column about what it would take to overtake the Nationals, and now the Nats are the team hoping to overtake the Mets. The good thing for the Nationals is that the...

Since we last spoke, the Orioles have won five of their last six games and grabbed the second wild card spot in the American League. A week ago, I searched far and wide for good news to share about my favorite ballclub after they were no-hit by Hisashi Iwakuma in the finale of what ended up being a 4-5 West Coast road trip against the A's, Angels and Mariners. Today, I'm struggling to figure out how to cram all these positive nuggets into 600 words. How quickly things can change in...

Stephen Strasburg watched the Nationals and Rockies combine for 21 runs on 28 hits, including four homers on Tuesday night. He entered Wednesday's start having lost his only two outings at Coors Field, dinged with a 5.56 ERA. But the talented right-hander blocked all of that out as he blitzed the Rockies lineup with a blazing, high-90s fastball, a baffling changeup and a filthy curveball in the Nationals' 4-1 win. The Rockies combined an error and a wild pitch to score an unearned run off...

Well, not all nights at the ballpark are created equal. Sometimes you see something special, fun or emotional or maybe all of the above. We seemed to get that and more last night when Henry Urrutia hit that walk-off homer to left in the last of the ninth. We saw history in that Urrutia became just the fifth Oriole to have his first career homer be a walk-off shot. We saw the Orioles produce their third walk-off homer in six games on this homestand. We saw and heard from the emotional Urrutia...

A night after lighting up the scoreboard, the Nationals' offense fell asleep for most of Wednesday's game. With the game knotted at 1-1 with two outs in the eighth, Jayson Werth woke them up, thumping a two-run triple to propel the Nats to a 4-1 win over the Rockies. "I'm just trying to be aggressive," Werth said on MASN's "Nats Xtra". "Things haven't really been going as planned. I'm just glad to help the team get a win. Big win for us." The timing of Werth's clutch hit couldn't...

Pitcher Kevin Gausman took special interest in the two-homer day by Yankees first baseman Greg Bird. And not because the teams are division rivals and the Orioles are trying to catch them. Gausman and Bird were teammates at Grandview High in Aurora, Colo., their families living a few minutes apart. Bird was a catcher, so the relationship only grew stronger. The Yankees called up Bird, their fourth-rated prospect, on Thursday, which prompted Gausman to send him a congratulatory text message....

Henry Urrutia tonight became the fifth player in Orioles history to produce a walk-off win with his first major league homer. Outfielder Merv Rettenmund was the first to do so in 1968, and the list also includes pitcher Jim Hardin in 1969, catcher Dave Criscione in 1977 and catcher Chris Hoiles in 1990. With his homer to left on a 1-2 pitch leading off the ninth inning, Urrutia not only gave his club an important 5-4 win over the Mets, he created a moment that he will never forget. "This is...