Ryan Flaherty gets the start at second base and David Lough returns to left field for the Orioles' series opener against the Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Nothing much to see here. A fairly predictable order. Just came down to the starter at second base. For the Orioles Nick Markakis RF Manny Machado 3B Adam Jones CF Chris Davis 1B Nelson Cruz DH Steve Clevenger C J.J. Hardy SS Ryan Flaherty 2B David Lough LF Wei-Yin Chen LHP For the Royals Nori Aoki RF Eric Hosmer 1B Billy Butler...

The Orioles made another change to their pitching staff this afternoon in Kansas City, optioning Kevin Gausman to Triple-A Norfolk and recalling Evan Meek. Gausman started yesterday against the Tigers and retired the first seven batters he faced before allowing five runs and six hits in four innings with two walks, two strikeouts and a wild pitch. He threw 87 pitches, 10 more than his highest total with Norfolk. Gausman, 23, went 0-1 with a 2.08 ERA in six starts for the Tides before being...

The Orioles today announced that they have recalled right-hander Evan Meek from Triple-A Norfolk and optioned right-hander Kevin Gausman to the Tides. Meek, 31, went 0-1 with a 6.94 ERA (11.2IP, 9ER) in 12 appearances for the Orioles earlier this season. Gausman, 23, started yesterday's game against the Tigers and allowed five earned runs in 4.0 innings. He went 0-1 with a 2.08 ERA (26.0IP, 6ER) in six starts for the Tides before being recalled.

The Orioles have lost four straight games, which makes Wei-Yin Chen their stopper tonight in the opener of a four-game series in Kansas City. Chen is 2-1 with a 5.40 ERA in three road starts this season and 0-1 with a 4.60 ERA in five career starts against the Royals. He allowed three earned runs over 7 1/3 innings in his only start at Kauffman Stadiium on July 24, 2013. Billy Butler is 8-for-15 with two doubles, a triple (a triple??), two homers and four RBIs against Chen, but the...

Nationals shortstop Ian Desmond had a home run early in the Arizona series. On Wednesday, he delivered a clutch two-run single to put the Nationals ahead for good in a 5-1 series-clinching victory over the Diamondbacks. He finished with five RBIs in the three-game set. Thursday marks a rare day off for Desmond. Despite this week's recent uptick at the plate, does manager Matt Williams believe Desmond needs a day or two off? "I want to give him some time, but we have had a lot of off-days,"...

As the Orioles move toward the quarter pole of this season, they are 20-18 and in first place in the American League East. The bottom line is that just about any fan would have taken that - first place after 38 games going into the season. But how they got there is the interesting part. The Orioles offense is underperforming and their rotation has been inconsistent. They've dealt with injuries and they currently have a rather unsettled closer situation. Being in first place right now is a...

Manager: Ned Yost, fifth year Record: 20-19 Last 10 games: 6-4 Who to watch: C Salvador Perez (.275/.333/.449, 4 HR, 12 RBIs); 1B Eric Hosmer (.304/.343/.418, 15 doubles, 18 RBIs); RHP Yordano Ventura (2-2, 2.34 ERA, 1.11 WHIP); RHP James Shields (5-3, 2.54 ERA, 1.08 WHIP) Season series vs. O's: 2-1, 16 runs scored, 6 runs allowed Pitching probables May 15: Yordano Ventura vs. Wei-Yin Chen, 8 p.m., MASN HD May 16: Jeremy Guthrie vs. Chris Tillman, 8 p.m., MASN2 HD May 17: Danny Duffy vs. Bud...

With Ryan Zimmerman, Adam LaRoche and Bryce Harper out, the Nationals are missing three of their best hitters, and in the cases of LaRoche and Zimmerman, they are missing the two highest OPS players on the team. While the addition of Kevin Frandsen, the emergence of Zach Walters and the resurgence of Danny Espinosa have improved the Nationals bench with so many key offensive weapons missing, it is like putting a band-aid on a bullet hole. Scoring runs is going to be a daily struggle for the...

"The difference between Tommy (Hunter) and Jimmy (Johnson) is that Jimmy had a track record," Orioles manager Buck Showalter told the media after Hunter blew his third save of the season on Tuesday against the Tigers. "Tommy does, too, with certain other things, so there's some unknown about where this will go with Tommy." A season ago, Johnson blew nine saves as the Orioles closer. The O's ended up finishing the season 85-77, 6 1/2 games back of a wild card spot in the American League....

Hello, East Coast. Nice to see you again. It seems like we haven't had an off-day at home in years. In reality, it's been five weeks. But still, nice to be home, get to sleep in your own bed and relax for a day. The Nationals come back to the area with a 21-19 record, now trailing the Braves by 1 1/2 games in the National League East. Not where they'd like to be, for sure. But yesterday's big comeback win, their 12th come-from-behind victory of the season, gave them a series win on the road...