When Chris Davis homered in the third inning tonight, it was not one of those majestic 400-plus foot homers that carry well into the stands. But it sure was a welcome sight for Davis and O's fans, no matter how far it traveled. Davis hit his third career grand slam in that five-run third as the Orioles beat Tampa Bay 7-5 to improve to 36-34 and even this series at a win each. With Toronto losing to New York, the O's moved within four games of first place in the American League East. Davis'...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Orioles manager Buck Showalter had to choose tonight whether to use Steve Pearce or Delmon Young as the designated hitter. Young was 2-for-21 against Rays left-hander Erik Bedard. Decision made. Pearce walked twice against Bedard and hit a two-run homer off Brad Boxberger in the top of the seventh to increase the Orioles' lead to 7-4. Pearce has five home runs this season to go with a .310 average. He looks pretty good in that second slot in the order. Caleb Joseph led...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - For Chris Davis, his third career grand slam was worth the wait. Davis sent a fly ball down the left field line tonight with the bases loaded and one out in the third inning. Tampa Bay's David DeJesus crashed into the wall at full speed, appearing to knock himself out as two runs scored and Davis stopped at second base. DeJesus stayed in the game. The ball stayed in play only because it hit the foul pole, which replays confirmed after manager Buck Showalter came out of...

Well, that didn't take long. After scoring a combined four runs over the last four games, the Nationals scored two runs in the first inning against Astros starter Dallas Keuchel. Anthony Rendon doubled home Denard Span to give the Nats a 1-0 lead. Two batters later, Ryan Zimmerman doubled home Rendon. Tanner Roark will certainly enjoy an early cushion. Update: Back-to-back RBI doubles from Zimmerman and Ian Desmond extended the Nats' lead to 4-0 in the third inning. Meanwhile, Roark...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Orioles manager Buck Showalter intends to keep his starters on turn past Thursday's off-day, which basically gives the club a six-man rotation. For how long is another matter. Ubaldo Jimenez, Bud Norris and Chris Tillman will make the starts at Yankee Stadium, keeping them in a rotation that also includes Wei-Yin Chen, Miguel Gonzalez and Kevin Gausman. "That could change, depending on what happens the next couple of nights, obviously," Showalter said. The Orioles...

It was more of the same for the Orioles in the most recent All-Star balloting figures. Despite hitting .264/.339/.340 in June, Nelson Cruz is still the leader at designated hitter, following a May where he had a batting average of .339 with 13 home runs and 27 RBIs. Matt Wieters is also still the leader among American League catchers with 1,488,884 votes. However, the O's catcher was ruled out for the rest of the 2014 season on Tuesday following a succesful ligament-reconstructive surgery. The...

The search for runs continues tonight for the Orioles. When Delmon Young homered in the ninth last night, they got to four and that has often been a magic number for a win. But this time, the Orioles lost 5-4 to the Rays. The O's are 26-10 (.722) when they score four or more runs and 9-24 (.273) when they score three runs or less. A look at how some hitters have fared recently: * Chris Davis is 1-for-14 his last four games and is batting .158 (12-for-76) with four homers and eight RBIs his...

Nationals left fielder Bryce Harper took swings in the batting cage with both hands this afternoon for the first time since tearing the ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb on April 26. Manager Matt Williams told the media prior to tonight's game against the Astros that Harper is a taking a positive step in his rehab program. "Today was the first time with two hands," Williams said. "It's limited, but he's excited about that." Williams said Harper came through the hitting session...

The Orioles today announced that they have reinstated right-hander Miguel Gonzalez from the 15-day disabled list and designated right-hander Josh Stinson for assignment. Gonzalez, 30, was placed on the DL, retroactive to May 31, with a strained right oblique. He is 3-4 with a 4.17 ERA (58.1IP, 27ER) in 11 games (10 starts) for the Orioles this season, posting six Quality Starts and a career-best 7.7 strikeouts per 9.0 innings. Stinson, 26, made one appearance for the Orioles after having his...

Nationals right-hander Stephen Strasburg was noticeably emotional this afternoon when speaking about the death of his boyhood idol and college baseball coach, Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, who died Monday of salivary gland cancer at 54. "It's tough because the last couple of weeks, no one really knew what was going on," Strasburg said. "I mean, just from my perspective, he was like a god to me growing up. How much he did for San Diego and for baseball all over the country. You never would have...