ARLINGTON, Texas - Nelson Cruz is back in the Orioles lineup tonight, and will be facing his former team for the first time. Cruz exited Sunday's game in Houston in the third inning with a bruised and swollen left hand, but he gripped a bat yesterday without discomfort and should play. Over eight seasons with the Rangers from 2006 to 2013, Cruz batted .268 with 157 homers and 489 RBIs in 796 games and was an All-Star in 2009 and 2013. Cruz lost out to Toronto's Edwin Encarnacion today for...

It's a good thing All-Star voting continues until July 3. Why? The Nationals are barley visible in the most recently released All-Star balloting figures. In the most recent results, Bryce Harper is the only Nats player with a shot at being in the National League's starting All-Star lineup, and it's not looking promising. Harper sits in 15th place among NL outfielders with 314,860 votes, which is understandable considering he has only played in 22 games this season due to surgery to repair a...

After more than seven weeks on the disabled list, Ryan Zimmerman has been reinstated today, opening the door for him to return to the Nationals lineup and play left field for the first time in his major league career. Tyler Moore was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse to make room for Zimmerman on the roster. Zimmerman hit .364 with a .405 on-base percentage and .636 slugging percentage in the first 10 games of the season, before fracturing his right thumb when diving back into second base during...

The Washington Nationals today returned from rehab and reinstated third baseman Ryan Zimmerman from the 15-Day Disabled List, and optioned infielder/outfielder Tyler Moore to Syracuse of the Triple-A International League. Nationals President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo made the announcement. Zimmerman, 29, returns to the Nationals after missing 44 games due to a right thumb fracture, suffered April 12 at Atlanta. He rejoins the active roster after hitting .357...

ARLINGTON, Texas - Dylan Bundy turned in his best outing today at extended spring training, tossing four perfect innings against the Twins and facing two extra batters to raise his pitch count. The only hit off Bundy came after the fourth. He struck out six batters and threw 56 pitches before coming out of the game. Bundy's fastball sat at 91-93 mph and touched 94 mph. In his previous start on May 29, Bundy threw 50 pitches over three hitless innings in Fort Myers. He walked the leadoff...

Orioles director of scouting Gary Rajsich said he and his staff are ready for the challenge. The challenge is to find and sign some good players in this week's First-Year Player Draft without having a pick until the third round. After picking Kevin Gausman fourth and Hunter Harvey 22nd overall in his first two drafts with the Orioles, Rajsich and the Birds won't select until the 90th overall pick on Friday afternoon. When the draft's first two rounds unfold live on MLB Network starting...

ARLINGTON, Texas - Tonight's game between the Orioles and Rangers has a "Throwback Tuesday" feel to it. The Orioles are facing former teammate Joe Saunders, making only his third start for the Rangers this season after spending time on the disabled list with a bruised foot. Manager Buck Showalter gave Saunders the start in Texas in the 2012 American League wild card game despite the left-hander's horrific numbers. Saunders is now 4-10 with a 6.39 ERA in 16 career starts against the Rangers...

Orioles 2013 first-round pick Hunter Harvey will be the starting pitching for the Northern Division team in the South Atlantic League All-Star Game set for June 17 in Hickory, N.C. Harvey heads a list of five Shorebirds named to the game this morning, and not only does he get to start this game, but he'll be pitching just 18 miles from his home in Catawba, N.C. Harvey will be joined as a starter by Delmarva third baseman Drew Dosch and right fielder Mike Yastrzemski. Delmarva pitchers...

As a pitcher not blessed with the high-octane fastball of some of his Nationals starting rotation cohorts, Doug Fister must do a lot of things, well, sometimes perfectly in order to succeed. Much of this success, which he appears to have finally found as a Washington National after a brief convalescence for a back injury, lies in his ability to locate his pitches on the corners and for these pitches to have movement, not so much in order to generate swings and misses, but to generate contact....

The Nationals wake up this morning in fourth place in the National League East. That's a weird sentence to write. Sunday's loss to the Rangers combined with yesterday's off-day allowed the Mets (who have now won three in a row and seven of their last 10) to move percentage points above the Nats in the division. Still, the Nats, at 27-28 on the season and yet to hit their stride, are just 3 1/2 games back of the division-leading Braves. This lengthy homestand will end with three games...