Wednesday's second game against the Mets was another tight affair, but this time the Nationals were able to hold onto a one-run lead and win their first game of the season 2-1. Manager Matt Williams decided to finish the game with three right-handers - Craig Stammen in the seventh, Blake Treinen in the eighth and Drew Storen in the ninth. The Mets managed just one hit in those three frames. Williams decided to start off the bullpen in the seventh by calling on the veteran Stammen. He allowed a...

If he had any doubters, Orioles minor league outfielder Mike Yastrzemski must have proved a lot of them wrong last year. He was not selected until round 14 in the 2013 First-Year Player Draf. There were 428 players selected before the Orioles drafted Yastrzemski, a senior from Vanderbilt. But the grandson of Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski didn't play like a 14th-round pick in 2014, when he began the season at Single-A Delmarva and later moved to both Single-A Frederick and Double-A Bowie. In...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Orioles haven't scored since the second inning of last night's game against the Rays. They won't score on Thursday, either, since there's only a light workout scheduled at Camden Yards. Time to pack up and get out of Florida. The Orioles totaled 12 runs and 13 hits in the first 11 innings of the series and had no runs and four hits in the last 16 innings. Rule 5 pick Jason Garcia made his major league debut and tossed a scoreless seventh inning, walking one batter...

For the Orioles, their first loss of the year was a very frustrating one. They failed to score, were held to three hits and allowed Tampa Bay to get the game's first run by walking four consecutive batters. The Rays beat the Orioles 2-0 at Tropicana Field as the O's went to 2-1 in the season's first series. The Rays took a 1-0 lead in the sixth when O's pitching lost the strike zone. They combined to walk four in a row after there were two out and none on. Starter Miguel Gonzalez walked two...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Rule 5 pick Jason Garcia made his major league debut tonight and tossed a scoreless seventh inning. Garcia walked Steven Souza Jr. with two outs. Two batters ran the count full. They all seem to run the count full. Catcher Ryan Lavarnway threw out Souza Jr. trying to steal second base while Garcia fell behind 3-0 to Asdrubal Cabrera. The Orioles continued to trail 1-0 heading to the top of the eighth. Rene Rivera popped up to first baseman Chris Davis, who raced into...

After a 56-minute rain delay, Nationals right-hander Jordan Zimmermann took the mound and promptly struck out Mets right fielder Curtis Granderson to start the game. Zimmermann would make quick work of the Mets in the first on a cold, dreary night at Nats Park. For the second straight game, the Nats put a runner on base in the first inning against the Mets. This time it was second baseman Yunel Escobar coming up with a single through the hole for his first hit as a Nat. After right fielder...

Hello, Nationals fans! Aren't you happy baseball is back? My name is Matt, a 10-year-old kid from the D.C. suburbs. I am a huge Nats fan, so I am so excited to be writing for MASNsports.com this season. I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself to the readers who may not know me. In July 2012, I started a blog called Matt's Bats, which you can find here. I started writing Matt's Bats because I became a huge fan of baseball after going to my first Nationals game in 2009. When I...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Orioles are 2-0 this season and 2-0 challenging calls. Desmond Jennings was ruled safe at first base tonight with two outs in the bottom of the first inning, allowing a run to score and prolonging Miguel Gonzalez's stay on the mound. However, replays showed that Jennings was out and it should have been a double play. The umpires eventually got it right after manager Buck Showalter came out of the dugout to challenge. The Orioles executed the 6-4-3 double play, with...

Tonight, the Orioles try to match something they accomplished last year: a three-game sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays on their first visit of the season to Tropicana Field. The O's swept the Rays by scores of 5-4, 4-3 and 3-1 last May 6-8. Tonight, they look for a season-opening sweep. The Orioles are 2-0 for the first time since 2012. The last time Baltimore led off the season with back-to-back road wins was 2011 when the Orioles began the year 4-0. With a 6-2 win on Monday and a 6-5 win on...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Catcher Matt Wieters, on the 15-day disabled list with tendinitis in his right elbow, began a throwing progression a week ago and was back on the field today before batting practice. Wieters classified it as "light tossing." "Just kind of trying to get it going again and get a normal throwing progression and kind of pick back up," Wieters said. "When it feels good enough at a certain step, we'll move back to the next step and go from there. "It'll be just move...