ATLANTA - This is why sports are so great. You look at the line score from tonight's game and see that the Nationals won 3-2 and might assume that it was a nice, quiet, uneventful ballgame. Uh, not exactly. The Nationals lost their ace to an injury after two innings; they had a reliever retire all 12 batters he faced; they had their leadoff hitter smack two triples; they had another reliever hit two batters in an inning; they had their catcher feel like he might have broken his collarbone...

ATLANTA - Stephen Strasburg will leave the Nationals in Atlanta and fly back to D.C. after he was diagnosed with a strained right oblique, an injury that knocked him from tonight's 3-2 Nats win after just two innings. It turns out that Strasburg has been feeling discomfort in the oblique for a few starts now, but while it had improved as he got deeper into his past outings, his right side only tightened up more as he went deeper into tonight's game. He finished off the second inning and then...

At Double-A Harrisburg, Anthony Rendon returned to the lineup after missing eight days while recovering from having his wisdom teeth removed. He went 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts as the designated hitter. But the bigger news came after the game, where Geoff Morrow and Dave Sottile of PennLive.com wrote Rendon had been promoted to Triple-A Syracuse. Rendon was batting .319 in 33 games with six homers and 24 RBIs for Harrisburg. He also played eight games and hit .240 with the Nationals...

Right fielder Jayson Werth went 2-for-4 with a double, walk, RBI and two runs scored in the high Single-A Potomac Nationals 10-1 thumping of the Lynchburg Hillcats on Friday night. Werth played seven innings. It was the longest Werth had played in his third straight rehab assignment with the P-Nats as he tested his tender hamstring. Werth has gone 6-for-11 in four rehab games since May 15, but the last three games have been since Tuesday. Werth had a line drive single in center field in the...

Not long after he had provided the Orioles with their fourth walk-off win of the year, Chris Dickerson said he had a simple approach in his at-bat in the ninth inning tonight. He also knew his game-winning three-run homer was gone right after he drove a 2-1 pitch from Jose Valverde toward the right-center field seats. "Just told myself to be a little shorter and just hit it," Dickerson said. "I knew I'd hit my first career walk-off. Pretty cool. "Down two runs with this team? That is...

After Tigers right-hander Max Scherzer retired the last 16 batters he faced tonight, the Orioles must have felt as though they were getting a fresh start with a new pitcher entering in the bottom of the ninth. "Kind of similar to last night with Freddy (Garcia)," said Orioles manager Buck Showalter. Except for the outcome. Jim Johnson got the save for the Orioles last night after Garcia went eight innings, but Tigers closer Jose Valverde blew the save tonight after surrendering a solo...

Maybe it was just Orioles magic. Chris Dickerson hit a three-run walk-off homer on a 2-1 pitch from Jose Valverde as the Orioles scored four in the last of the ninth to stun the Tigers 7-5 tonight. Max Scherzer had retired 16 straight Orioles through the last of the eighth, but he exited after a season-high 119 pitches. Nick Markakis started the ninth with a solo homer off Valverde and it was a 5-4 game. Singles by Adam Jones and Chris Davis put runners on the corners with none out. But two...

ATLANTA - The Nationals' bullpen has put itself in a number of tough spots this season. Tyler Clippard might top the list with his effort tonight, but somehow, Clippard managed to right the ship and allow the Nats to keep clinging to a 3-2 lead after seven innings. Called upon to work the seventh and protect a two-run advantage after Craig Stammen had thrown 49 pitches and retired all 12 batters he'd faced, Clippard got into quite a pickle. He allowed an infield single to Ramiro Pena...

Another Orioles starter completed six innings tonight, the third to do so in the last nine games. Otherwise, it was a fairly disappointing night for Miguel Gonzalez, who was replaced by left-hander Troy Patton to begin the seventh. Gonzalez is charged with a season-high five earned runs and seven hits, with three walks, six strikeouts, two home runs and a wild pitch. He threw 105 pitches, matching his season high - 66 for strikes. Gonzalez still hasn't won since April 23 against the Blue...

ATLANTA - This can't be good. Stephen Strasburg has been pulled from tonight's game after just two innings with an apparent injury. Craig Stammen is now on to work the third inning for the Nationals, who will now have to deal with another injury issue, this one to their ace. Strasburg faced the minimum in the first inning tonight, getting a 4-6-3 double play off the bat of Justin Upton to end the inning. He then surrendered a long solo home run to Freddie Freeman leading off the second,...