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...

The day after the Orioles optioned pitcher Jake Arrieta to Triple-A Norfolk, manager Buck Showalter sought out catcher Matt Wieters to discuss the right-hander and bounce ideas about what went wrong. "Very frustrating for Matt," Showalter said. "He's as good as there is at putting fingers down. Most of us are looking at how we're failing him." Arrieta didn't fail last night. Making his first start for Triple-A Norfolk, he tossed six scoreless innings and didn't walk a batter. Arrieta...

On the first pitch he ever saw in the Eastern League last April, Manny Machado homered off a Harrisburg pitcher. Last night, on the first pitch he ever saw playing at Bowie's Prince George's Stadium, Henry Urrutia homered off a Harrisburg pitcher. Now, that was Machado's first game - the 2012 Double-A season opener - and Urrutia was playing his sixth game, but first at home. Still, it was an impressive home debut last night for the 26-year-old Cuban outfielder the Orioles signed to a bonus...

Wei-Yin Chen became the first Orioles starter to go seven innings this season and took it one step beyond that, pitching them to a 3-0 win over the Oakland A's tonight in game two of the series. After going 3-16 the last five years at Oakland, the Birds are 2-0 there in 2013. Chen went eight superb innings, a career high, allowing just two hits with two walks and five strikeouts. He threw 106 pitches in improving to 2-2 with an ERA of 2.53 after his fourth straight quality start. It was...

Orioles manager Buck Showalter is rooting for one of his starters to go seven innings just so he doesn't have to address the topic during every postgame media session. It's a hot topic among reporters. Probably a few fans, too. Wei-Yin Chen has come pretty close, going 5 2/3, 6 1/3, six and six innings this season. He's turned in three straight quality starts. He's allowed three runs or fewer in all four. At the risk of slowing his roll, I'll point out that Chen allowed one baserunner...

How good was Jordan Zimmermann tonight? He was facing a Reds team that had scored the second-most runs in the National League coming into the game, and he held them scoreless. Six of his nine innings lasted just 10 or fewer pitches. He faced 30 batters and threw just 32 balls. You can do the math. That's impressive stuff. "I felt great. This is the best I've felt in a long time," Zimmermann said after his first career compete-game shutout. "A really good slider tonight and a good...