MINNEAPOLIS - The Orioles' rotation is dealing with another injury. Wei-Yin Chen left today's start after five innings with a strained right oblique. Tommy Hunter has replaced him. Chen appeared to be reaching for his right side as he walked to the dugout after retiring Eduardo Escobar to end the bottom of the fifth. He allowed five hits over five scoreless innings, with no walks, three strikeouts and a wild pitch. Chen threw 73 pitches, 50 for strikes, in his second-shortest outing of the...

Davey Johnson jokingly calls himself "Captain Hook" because of his quick calls to the bullpen. We got another Captain Hook sighting at Nationals Park this afternoon. Johnson decided to go to his bench with Gio Gonzalez set to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning. Gonzalez had thrown just 86 pitches through seven scoreless innings, and he had bounced back from a shaky sixth inning to retire the side in order in the seventh. Instead of sticking with his starter, however, Johnson...

MINNEAPOLIS - You can't stop Manny Machado, you can only hope to hold him to two hits. Machado has posted his 17th multi-hit game of the season today, collecting a single in the first inning and a double in the fifth. There's more with Machado, of course. He now has 12 multi-hit games in his last 19, with nine doubles, a triple, three homers and 13 RBIs. He's 33-for-82 in that stretch, which comes out to a .402 average. Machado has hit safely in 11 of his last 12 road games, batting .453...

Like Stephen Strasburg yesterday, Gio Gonzalez has been dominant through four innings today. We'll see if things go better for Gonzalez the rest of the way out than they did for Strasburg, who melted down in the fifth. Gonzalez has been perfect through four, retiring all 12 Cubs hitters he's seen, with three strikeouts. He's thrown just 43 pitches thus far, 29 for strikes. The velocity on Gonzalez's fastball has been a touch down today - he's sitting at 92-93 mph - but the Cubs...

MINNEAPOLIS - The Orioles scored three runs in the first inning last night. They scored two in the first inning today, and those runs came off the pink bat of first baseman Chris Davis. Davis hit the batter's eye in center field with a two-run shot off Twins left-hander Scott Diamond that traveled an estimated 442 feet and gave the Orioles a 2-0 lead. Players are wearing pink spikes and arm bands today to symbolize the fight against breast cancer. A few of them are using pink bats, including...

Right-hander A.J. Cole has now allowed just one earned run in his last two starts following a no-decision Saturday with the high Single-A Potomac Nationals. Last week, Cole was named Carolina League Pitcher of the Week for his six innings of shutout baseball versus Myrtle Beach. Then on Saturday, Cole spun five innings, surrendering just one run on five hits with three walks, one hit batter and seven strikeouts. Overall, Cole is 1-1 with a 3.65 ERA in seven starts with 41 strikeouts and nine...

MINNEAPOLIS - Orioles pitcher Miguel Gonzalez will wait until Tuesday to throw his bullpen session. Gonzalez was supposed to throw today, but he wants to give his blister a few more days to heal. The area is still inflamed. Gonzalez is still scheduled to go on an injury-rehab assignment Thursday or Friday, affiliate to be determined. Tsuyoshi Wada could start his rehab assignment on Thursday at Triple-A Norfolk or Double-A Bowie. Kevin Gausman is scheduled to start for the Baysox on Thursday,...

So far this year, the Orioles have been more consistent than streaky. Their longest winning streak is four games. Their longest losing streak is three games, which came in the fifth, sixth and seventh games of the year. The Orioles have lost back-to-back games just twice this year. A loss today would be the third time for that. On their way to a 22-15 record, they have won eight of 11 series, including two in a row and six of their last seven. They need a win today to add to that, and the...

A very happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there, especially my own, who is as good as they get, in my book. Players will be wearing pink cleats, wristbands, batting gloves and arm sleeves and using pink bats today in support of breast cancer awareness, and all baseballs used across Major League Baseball today will have pink stitches. Bryce Harper will even use a pink glove. I discussed Stephen Strasburg's fifth-inning struggles at length yesterday, but the guy who followed him to the...

The Orioles today announced that they have recalled left-hander Mike Belfiore from Triple-A Norfolk. Belfiore, 24, was 1-0 with a 5.52 ERA (14.2IP, 9ER) in 10 games for the Tides. In 2012, with Double-A Bowie, Belfiore was 5-1 with a 2.85 ERA (47.1IP, 15ER) in 28 games. Originally selected by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first round (45th overall) of the 2009 First-Year Player Draft out of Boston College, Belfiore was acquired by the Orioles on May 12, 2012 in exchange for infielder Josh...