Right-hander Nathan Karns made it through his first start with the Nationals and did his job, keeping his team in the game. Karns gets his second start Sunday in Atlanta. With lingering injuries to Ross Detwiler (oblique) and now Stephen Strasburg (oblique), Karns is not going anywhere. Suddenly, the right-hander with only 10 starts above high Single-A ball is critical to the Nationals, who are treading water as June begins. "The first one just came by and it was a complete shock," Karns...

He didn't get any stolen bases last night, but Nate McLouth ranks second in the American League with 17, four behind Boston's Jacoby Ellsbury. At his current pace, he would end the season with 50 steals, something done just three times in Orioles history. 57 - Luis Aparicio, 1964 53 - Brady Anderson, 1992 50 - Brian Roberts, 2007 The Orioles have gone from worst to almost first in the AL in stolen bases. After swiping just 58 bags total in 2012, they now have stolen 41 bases, one behind...

ATLANTA - For those who might've been out enjoying their Friday night and didn't catch yesterday's series opener between the Nationals and Braves, you missed quite a bit of action at Turner Field. As we await the details of a roster move that will bring right-handed reliever Erik Davis to the big leagues for the first time in his career and likely force either Bryce Harper or Stephen Strasburg to the disabled list, I've got some bonus quotes from an upbeat Nats clubhouse last night. Craig...

While Freddy Garcia was sweating profusely and putting the Nationals' offense in a deep freeze Thursday night during his eight scoreless innings, Orioles manager Buck Showalter glanced down the bench at young starter Kevin Gausman and noticed how he kept watching intently. Each pitch, each sequence, each out. Gausman throws 99 mph. Garcia celebrates if his fastball ventures into the upper 80s. They have little in common besides the uniform, but Gausman took advantage of another opportunity to...

ATLANTA - This incredibly eventful night in Nationals land just won't end. Right-handed reliever tweeted that he's getting called up to the big leagues. At this late hour, I'm not confident that I'll be able to get confirmation on the particulars of the roster move, but I can tell you there were rumblings that Davis was an option to get called up earlier in the week. The two most likely candidates to land on the disabled list to make room for Davis on the Nationals' 25-man roster are...

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...