Right-hander Lucas Giolito produced his best outing of the year Friday in Double-A Harrisburg's 2-0 win over Bowie. It was Giolito's first win in Double-A. Giolito (1-1) fired 99 pitches, 63 for strikes over seven strong innings, allowing only one hit, one walk and tying a career high with 11 strikeouts. Giolito also struck out 11 on May 14 for high Single-A Potomac. He struck out 10 batters July 6 for the P-Nats. Bowie's Chance Sisco had the only hit on a grounder to center fielder Brian...

Henry Urrutia is in left field and Steve Clevenger is serving as the designated hitter today, as the Orioles attempt to win their third game in a row. Caleb Joseph is catching. Matt Wieters remains on the bench while recovering from a strained right hamstring. Chris Davis enters today's game leading the majors with 88 RBIs and ranked second in home runs with 34. Nelson Cruz is first with 35. Davis has six home runs in his last six games. Davis' 87 career home runs at Camden Yards rank fifth....

Do you remember the scene in "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" when the couple is yelling frantically at John Candy and Steve Martin, "You're going the wrong way" as two 18-wheelers are approaching the duo's car? That's exactly what's happening to the Nationals as they appear lost in their 10-game, 11-day journey out west. There's no method to the madness, either. When the offense shows up, the pitching doesn't; when the starters twirl gems, the bats are left in the dugout. Nobody on...

It's hard to win ballgames when your starting pitchers can't make it past the third inning. Friday night, Max Scherzer was knocked out after five early runs, and on Saturday, the Giants sent Gio Gonzalez to the showers, plating six in the third as the Nationals dropped their fifth straight game, 12-6. The Nationals presented Gonzalez with an early two-run lead on Yunel Escobar's RBI double in the first and Ian Desmond's colossal solo homer in the second. But Gonzalez gave it away quickly in...

After he hit two more homers last night, including the walk-off homer in the last of the ninth, Chris Davis is now batting .259 with 34 homers and 88 RBIs in 113 games. Davis is now on a pace for 48 homers and 124 RBIs. He is currently second in the American League in homers, one behind Seattle's Nelson Cruz. He now leads the AL in RBIs and his .555 slugging percentage ranks fifth in the league. In this series against Oakland, Davis is 5-for-10 with three homers and five RBIs. In 13 games in...

A walk-off home run from Chris Davis on SOR Night II. Just my little gift to you. I didn't mention it earlier because I wanted it to be a surprise. The Orioles are a half-game behind the Angels for the second wild card and five games behind the first-place Yankees, who have cooled off the Blue Jays. Say what you will about the Orioles - and I've read and heard plenty - but they know how to get off the canvas. The no-hitter was supposed to be the knockout punch. They had reached rock bottom....

For the first time since July 22-23, 1998, the Orioles have won two straight games on walk-off homers. Manny Machado and Chris Davis got that done the last two nights against Oakland. Oakland was also victimized back in 1998 when Rafael Palmeiro and Lenny Webster delivered the game-winning homers. With two outs in the last of the ninth tonight, Davis faced Oakland switch-pitcher Pat Venditte. The A's hurler threw left-handed against Gerardo Parra and then right-handed against Adam Jones. He...

The Nationals jumped on the scoreboard in the opening frame. After Michael A. Taylor and Anthony Rendon lined out sharply, Giants starter Jake Peavy walked Byrce Harper. Yunel Escobar then dove a ball to the gap in right-center field. Hunter Pence appeared to take a bad route to the ball and it flew over his head. Harper raced all the way around to the plate on the two-out double to give the Nats a quick 1-0 lead. Nationals left-hander Gio Gonzalez retired the Giants in order in the bottom of...

The Orioles went 4-5 on their West Coast trip and were no-hit in the final game in Seattle. They're 2-0 on the current homestand and have produced a pair of walk-off home runs. They now trail the Angels by a half-game for the second wild card. Baseball is a funny game. Chris Davis homered twice tonight, including a two-out shot off Oakland switch-pitcher Pat Venditte in the bottom of the ninth that gave the Orioles a 4-3 win before a sellout crowd of 44,028 at Camden Yards. Manny Machado...

Every morning, Orioles fans log onto MASNsports.com and check out Roch Kubatko's School of Roch blog for the latest news and notes. As readers ask questions about the roster changes, talk about the previous night's game or even compete to be the first comment on the post, more than just good baseball discussion is generated. The blog has also developed friendships and a sense of a camaraderie among commenters. In 2014, Orioles fan Scott Fahs, known by username CardiacScott on MASNsports.com,...