Wei-Yin Chen had been struggling to get outs and the Orioles had been struggling to score runs. But Chen had a strong outing and the Orioles came up with their second-highest run total of the season tonight in a 7-1 win over Tampa Bay in the opener of a three-game series. In the first three innings the Orioles scored six runs, one more than they had scored in three games over the weekend against Toronto. In those three at-bats, O's hitters went 9-for-18 with five doubles and 5-for-10 with...

Wei-Yin Chen retired 12 of the first 13 Tampa Bay batters tonight, the only baserunner coming on Desmond Jenning's walk with one out in the fourth. Too soon for players in the dugout to ignore him? Chen's flirtation with a no-hitter ended with one out in the fifth, when James Loney doubled to right-center field. Fans applauded Chen. It was fun while it lasted. Brandon Guyer reached on an infield hit, but Yunel Escobar grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to end the fifth and keep Chen's shutout...

Apparently, there's nothing like the Miami Marlins to bring a team out of its offensive woes. Going to the bottom of the third in Little Havana, the Nationals have a 5-1 lead, with right-hander Jordan Zimmermann on the mound. Zimmermann has given up a run on three hits and struck out three over two frames. In the first inning, it was Washington's extra-base power on display. Jayson Werth doubled off the top of the wall in left-center and then scored easily when Bryce Harper tripled. Tyler...

The Orioles made three nice defensive plays behind Wei-Yin Chen in the first inning tonight, beginning with third baseman Ryan Flaherty's clean pick of Ben Zobrist's scorching ground ball. Zobrist is now 10-for-24 lifetime against Chen, who could use some assistance from his defense. He also will take any clean inning that comes his way, considering his 1.969 WHIP and opponents' .412 average before tonight. The first six Rays have been retired tonight, and Chen has thrown 20 pitches. They...

Injured right-hander Doug Fister, who is on the 15-day disabled list with a right lat strain, threw a 50-pitch bullpen in Miami this afternoon. If he feels good tomorrow, the Nationals will work a simulated game into his upcoming rehabilitation schedule. "Fifty pitches, and he was a little winded, he told me afterward, but physically he was good," manager Matt Williams said. "Everything felt good. He's progressing. It's a very good sign for him to go through that today and have no...

The Orioles have lost three of four series this year. They'll try to turn that around starting tonight, but they will have to do it against a Tampa Bay team that they went just 6-13 against in 2013. Remember that four-game sweep the O's suffered late last season in St. Petersburg? It pretty much ended any of their playoff hopes. The Orioles lost 11 of the last 13 games between these two teams last season, and are 1-5 in thei last six home games against the Rays. Matt Wieters does enjoy...

It might have been a bit of a footnote in a game where the Orioles were blown out and Ubaldo Jimenez did not pitch well again Sunday, but Chris Davis did get into the homer column. Last season Davis hit nine homers in April on his way to 37 by the all-star break and to a club-record 53 for the season. The longest Davis went at any point last season without a home run was 10 games and this year his drought reached 11 games until he connected in the eighth inning Sunday. I asked Davis how he...

During the 2010 season, right-hander Evan Meek pitched to an ERA of 2.14 out of the Pittsburgh Pirates bullpen and made the National League All-Star team. He ranked among National League relief leaders in innings, opponent batting average and ERA. But Meek suffered a torn labrum early during the 2011 season. He continued to pitch, but it took him a long while to get back to the effectiveness he had during that All-Star season. He spent all of last season at Triple-A for the Texas Rangers and...

Before this season, Kevin Frandsen had trotted to the outfield only 14 times in 398 career games. Now, with the Nationals thin in the outfield because of injuries that sent Denard Span (concussion) and Scott Hairston (oblique strain) to the DL, and with Nate McLouth nursing a sore left knee, Frandsen is quickly becoming reacquainted with warning tracks, walls and tricky bounces in opposing ballparks. Tonight marks the veteran's third straight start in left field, but to hear Frandsen tell it,...

After running six sprints at 90 feet today in Sarasota, Orioles third baseman Manny Machado will go full-speed at 180 feet Tuesday morning. He also could run the bases for the first time, another huge step in his progression following knee surgery exactly six months ago. Machado hasn't been cutting the bases and that's the most important test before he's cleared for extended spring training games, which should come later this week. His schedule calls for him to play in two or three games...