Manny Machado extended his hitting streak to six games today, reaching on a bunt single with one out in the top of the first inning. I won't dare suggest that it was a "perfect" bunt. I did that once this season on a Machado sacrifice and was shouted down in the comments section. Machado didn't keep the ball on the ground, ending his quest for perfection, but he sailed it past diving Oakland Athletics pitcher A.J. Griffin, who decided to cushion his fall with his face. Once the ball...

It wasn't that long ago that Buck Showalter said he felt playing 20 games in 20 days - a stretch the Orioles are currently in the middle of - could be a good thing for the starting pitchers. He figured getting the pitchers working on an every-fifth-day routine would be a good thing and perhaps recent results prove he was right about that. Over the last seven games, O's starters have produced five quality starts for their best stretch of the season. The starters' ERA is 3.19 in the seven...

Five outings into his Nationals tenure, Dan Haren has his first quality start. After a rough start to the season, Haren bounced back with a nice outing today against a high-powered Reds lineup. Haren went six innings, allowing two runs on six hits. He walked none and struck out five, throwing 88 pitches, 56 for strikes. With Haren's pitch count still fairly low, manager Davey Johnson could've opted to send his veteran right-hander out for the seventh, but Johnson is a fan of having his...

So far, so good this afternoon for Dan Haren. Haren has faced the minimum through three scoreless innings today, striking out three. He's thrown just 35 pitches thus far, and came out of the gates attacking, firing first-pitch strikes to five of the first six hitters he faced. Manager Davey Johnson has said he'd like to see Haren worry less about velocity and more about control and mixing his pitches. For much of the first three innings, Haren was bringing his four-seam fastball in at 88-89...

Orioles manager Buck Showalter is putting Matt Wieters and Taylor Teagarden in the same lineup this afternoon. Teagarden will catch a day game after a night game. Wieters will serve as the designated hitter. Otherwise, it's the standard lineup vs. a right-handed starter. For the Orioles Nate McLouth LF Manny Machado 3B Nick Markakis RF Adam Jones CF Chris Davis 1B Matt Wieters DH J.J. Hardy SS Ryan Flaherty 2B Taylor Teagarden C Chris Tillman RHP

Lefty reliever Chris Jones, a player the Orioles acquired from Atlanta in the trade April 10 for Luis Ayala, was today promoted from Double-A Bowie to Triple-A Norfolk. Since joining this organization, the 24-year-old Jones pitched in four games at Bowie. Over seven innings, he allowed eight hits and two runs with no walks and six strikeouts. A 15th-round draft pick by Cleveland out of high school in 2007, this will be Jones' first chance at the Triple-A level. Bowie manager Gary Kendall saw...

The Orioles have released veteran right-hander Scott Proctor, who was pitching at Triple-A Norfolk. Proctor allowed seven earned runs, and 13 total, in 7 1/3 innings with the Tides. He surrendered 10 hits, walked 10 and struck out six. The Orioles have plenty of other pitching options at Norfolk. Josh Stinson returned to the Tides today after starting for the Orioles on Wednesday. Left-hander Chris Jones was promoted from Double-A Bowie to Norfolk. Reliever Rob Delaney was transferred from...

Danny Espinosa has hit sixth or seventh in the Nationals lineup every game that he's played this season. Not this afternoon. Espinosa will bat second against the Reds today. Manager Davey Johnson has Anthony Rendon back in the lineup playing third base today, and Johnson would rather have Espinosa in the table-setting No. 2 spot than Rendon, who is appearing in just his fifth big league game today. "I want him to think about line drives, getting on base, that kind of thing," Johnson said...

You've probably figured out that the Orioles have struggled in Oakland in past years. Here are a few more examples: The Orioles have posted consecutive quality starts in Oakland for the first time since April 16-18, 2010 when they posted three straight - Kevin Millwood, Jeremy Guthrie and Brian Matusz. The Orioles have won three straight in Oakland, dating back to Sept. 16, 2012, for the first time since Aug. 15-17, 2005. The Orioles haven't won four straight in Oakland since May 23-Sept....

The Nationals are starting to play better ball, and the Braves are starting to come back down to earth. Atlanta got whooped by the Tigers 10-0 last night, with Detroit starter Anibal Sanchez striking out 17 Braves hitters in eight innings of work. After the game, Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez was so frustrated with his team that this was the entirety of his press conference: "(Sanchez) was pretty good, and we weren't. And that's about it, boys. That's all I've got for you." The Braves...