With Delmon Young designated for assignment yesterday, the Orioles are down to eight pending free agents on their roster. They began the season with 11. Young, reliever Ryan Webb and outfielder Alejandro De Aza have been subtracted. The list still includes pitchers Wei-Yin Chen, Bud Norris, Darren O'Day, Tommy Hunter and Wesley Wright, catcher Matt Wieters, first baseman Chris Davis and outfielder Steve Pearce. I'm listing Davis as a first baseman, but he's made five starts in right...

The Braves did all of their damage in the fourth inning against right-hander Doug Fister to end a nine-game losing streak against the Nationals with a 4-1 win. "I was fighting myself a little bit," Fister said to reporters. "Period. Didn't get my job done. I didn't keep our team in the game and that hurts." Fister faced only 10 batters in the first three innings, yielding just one walk without a hit. But in the crucial fourth, the Braves sent nine to the plate with five delivering hits....

Nationals right-hander Doug Fister cruised through the Braves order the first time around, giving up just a walk to Cameron Maybin in the opening inning. Maybin bothered Fister in the fourth again, this time delivering Atlanta's first hit to trigger a big inning. Two batters later, Braves catcher A.J. Pierzynski battled Fister before ripping a 3-2 cutter over the right field wall for a two-run homer. It was Pierzynski's third longball of his career against Fister. Juan Uribe stepped to the...

Left-hander Wei-Yin Chen was a bit of a stopper tonight for the Orioles. Sure, he did give up two homers, but they were solo shots and he held down a Texas team that had scored 16 runs and hit eight homers the past two nights. But don't call him a stopper though. "I didn't even think about that," he said through his translator. "All I wanted to do is focus on my game plan and not anything else." That he did, not allowing a run after the fourth inning and pitching eight strong innings on...

Orioles manager Buck Showalter indicated tonight that he won't have a seven-man bullpen for Thursday's series finale against the Rangers. However, starter Bud Norris will be available in relief in an emergency. It appears that Tyler Wilson, recalled today, will be optioned to Triple-A Norfolk to make room for starter Kevin Gausman. Wei-Yin Chen allowed two solo home runs over eight innings, throwing only 87 pitches, in the Orioles' 4-2 win before 23,019. Zach Britton struck out the side in...

Did the Orioles beat the Texas Rangers at their own game tonight? Tied 2-2 in the last of the seventh, shortstop J.J. Hardy hit a two-run shot to left to break the tie and send the Orioles to a 4-2 win over the Rangers at Camden Yards. While Texas has hit 10 homers in this series, the Orioles have five, and No. 5 by Hardy was big. Chris Davis singled to start that inning against right-hander Nick Martinez, the losing pitcher. The single extended Davis' hitting streak to 11 games to tie his...

Welcome to July, one of the busiest months on the baseball calendar. First off, today is the opening of the international signing period which means a bunch of 15- and 16-year- olds out of the Caribbean will be signed by major league teams with the hopes of one day making it to the American minor leagues and then possibly the majors. This is only interesting in the fact that one day some of these players will be good but that is so far off it isn't even worth thinking about. Wilmer Difo has...

The Orioles today announced that they have recalled right-hander Tyler Wilson from Triple-A Norfolk and designated outfielder Delmon Young for assignment. Wilson, 25, made his major league debut on May 20 against the Seattle Mariners, tossing a scoreless inning in relief. He made his first career Major League start in Game 1 of a doubleheader on May 28 against the Chicago White Sox, allowing two runs on five hits over 6.0 innings. He has gone 1-1 with a 2.12 ERA (17.0IP, 4ER) in five games (one...

Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette expressed confidence tonight that the club will be able to trade outfielder Delmon Young, who was designated for assignment to create room for pitcher Tyler Wilson on the 25-man roster. Duquette doesn't expect a deal to be completed tonight, but the Orioles have 10 days. "Delmon is a qualified major league hitter," Duquette said, "and hopefully we will be able to find a spot for him in a few days." Manager Buck Showalter met with Young after...

After winning 18 of 23 games, the Orioles have now lost the first two games of this series with Texas. The Orioles have not lost a series since they dropped three of four at Houston from June 1-4. They need to win the next two nights to avoid losing this series. The Orioles are 8-0-1 in nine series since those four games at Houston. They have not lost more than two in a row since losing five straight from May 30-June 3. With the top four teams in the American League East losing the last two...