The Nationals stepped into AT&T Park Wednesday night winners of nine of their last 11 and looking to hand the Giants their first three-game losing streak at home this season. Matt Cain was a more than gracious host in the first inning, struggling with his command and walking the first three batters he faced. Adam LaRoche made him pay with a single just to the right of second base, plating Denard Span and Anthony Rendon, and the Nationals led 2-0. A Ryan Zimmerman groundout brought home...

Kevin Gausman's best start as a major league pitcher was last Saturday night against Oakland. Now he'll try to do that two times in a row. Gausman went seven innings, allowing just four hits and one run against the A's. He walked one, fanned six and threw 102 pitches. After Sunday's game he got a great compliment from the Oakland clubhouse. The A's are one of the American League's highest scoring teams and Branden Moss is one of their middle of the order hitters. "That guy, I got to...

The Washington Nationals today placed catcher Wilson Ramos on the 15-Day Disabled List (right hamstring strain) and recalled catcher Sandy Leon from Syracuse of the Triple-A International League. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcement. Leon went 8-for-44 (.182) with a double, a home run (April 14 at Miami off Kevin Slowey) and three RBI in 13 games during a six-week span with the Nationals earlier this season. Defensively, Leon threw out...

Wilson Ramos will need seven to 10 days to recover from a right hamstring strain, so the Nationals have placed their oft-injured catcher on the 15-day disabled list and will suggest that he modifies his workout routine to incorporate more running in hopes of preventing future hamstring injuries. "He got an MRI this morning and officially it's a Grade 1 strain of his hamstring," manager Matt Williams told reporters this afternoon in San Francisco. "It's the opposite side of his previous...

The Orioles have allowed one run in the last 23 innings. Again, I must ask: Is the rotation a concern or not? Wei-Yin Chen has permitted two hits in five scoreless innings tonight, and the Orioles continue to hold a 4-0 lead over the Red Sox. Chen matched his season-high of six strikeouts back in the fourth inning. The only hits off him are singles by Dustin Pedroia in the fourth and David Ortiz in the fifth. Chen has faced the minimum number of batters because Nick Markakis threw out...

Wilson Ramos is headed to the 15-day disabled list with a right hamstring problem. The Nationals catcher injured himself legging out a double Tuesday night in San Francisco. He was removed from the game as a precaution with right hamstring tightness, and told reporters at AT&T Park today that he was heading to the DL with a hamstring issue for the third time in two seasons. Ultimately, the Nationals opted for a DL stint because they needed two healthy catchers. Sandy Leon is expected to be...

Nick Markakis is one hit shy of tying Brian Roberts (1,452) for seventh place on the Orioles' all-time list. Ken Singleton ranks sixth with 1,455. Orioles vice president of baseball operations Brady Anderson drove to Prince George's Stadium tonight to watch Miguel Gonzalez make a start for Double-A Bowie and Nolan Reimold bat for the second consecutive game. Gonzalez has allowed three hits in two scoreless innings with one walk, two strikeouts and a wild pitch. He's thrown 36 pitches, 24...

SAN FRANCISCO - Catcher Wilson Ramos is out of the Nationals lineup one night after leaving Tuesday's game because of right hamstring tightness. Jose Lobaton is behind the plate and just in case Ramos is completely unavailable, Kevin Frandsen is the Nats' emergency catcher. Giants right-hander Matt Cain makes his second start off the disabled list and first since holding the Mets hitless through five frames of a seven-inning outing. Tanner Roark starts for the Nats one outing after...

Tonight, the Orioles play another rubber match. The Orioles have not fared well in such games this year. They are 2-6 and have lost four straight series-deciding games. It started in the first series against Boston when they lost Game 3 4-3 and continued through Sunday in an 11-1 loss to Oakland. Meanwhile, the Orioles offense has slowed again. They've scored just five runs the last three games and just 14 runs with a .221 team batting average during the five games of this homestand so...

It was about three weeks ago when Chris Davis hit three home runs in Pittsburgh. A couple of days later, he homered and knocked in four runs. But now he is struggling again. Davis went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts last night. Over his last 14 games, he's batting .164 (9-for-55) with 24 strikeouts. Is it a timing issue? O's hitting coach Jim Presley doesn't think so. "No, It's his bat angle," Presley said. "He's crossing over. We're trying to get him to get on top of the ball a...