BRADENTON, Fla. - Left-hander Zach Britton gave up an RBI double to Josh Harrison in the bottom of the seventh inning to reduce the Orioles' lead to 3-1 over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Jake Arrieta stepped outside the clubhouse while icing his right arm and met with reporters. Here's a sampling: On how he felt about his start: "Overall, I liked the outing. I started out very strong. I talked to Rick (Adair) about this a lot and we've continued to work, bullpen session after bullpen session,...

VIERA, Fla. - When I looked at Stephen Strasburg's stat line before today's game, I was surprised how inflated it was. Through his first three outings this spring, Strasburg had a 5.19 ERA, having allowed five runs in 8 2/3 innings, with 11 hits, three walks and 13 strikeouts. That's why spring stat lines mean almost nothing. Strasburg had been much better than his numbers had indicated this spring, and today, the in-game results started to match how good his stuff has been. Strasburg has...

BRADENTON, Fla. - You can't stop Lew Ford. You can only hope to contain him. Ford is 2-for-2 today with a single and home run, and the Orioles have taken a 2-0 lead over the Pittsburgh Pirates at McKechnie Field. Ford, re-signed to a minor league deal over the winter, is now 11-for-19 with two home runs this spring. The Orioles scored in the second inning on consecutive singles by Danny Valencia, Yamaico Navarro and LJ Hoes. Ford homered with one out in the third off Pirates left-hander...

VIERA, Fla. - In case you missed it over the weekend, former Nationals manager Manny Acta has joined ESPN as a bilingual analyst. Acta had the reins in D.C. from 2007-09 and spent the last three seasons as the manager of the Indians, compiling a record of 214-266. He has said that he hopes to get back into a big league dugout in the near future. The Nationals have an off-day tomorrow and then split-squad games on Wednesday. Jordan Zimmermann will get the start against the Mets here in...

BRADENTON, Fla. - Second baseman Brian Roberts remains convinced that he will be in the opening day lineup on April 2, his body holding up under every test this spring. "Everything's been great," he said this morning. "It's been nice to get out, play and just kind of be normal again and be like everybody else. We're having a good time and everybody seems to be playing well. We think that things are going in the right direction for everybody at this point." Roberts is the one under the...

BRADENTON, Fla. - Jason Hammel and Jair Jurrjens will be the starters for Tuesday morning's intrasquad game on the Camden Yards field at the Ed Smith Stadium complex. The game will last eight to 10 innings, weather permitting. Rain is in the forecast, which would force some pitchers to throw indoors. Nolan Reimold, Wilson Betemit and Taylor Teagarden will bat each inning. Betemit, who's 1-for-17 with a home run this spring, approached manager Buck Showalter with a request to play in the...

VIERA, Fla. - When Davey Johnson sat down for his pregame session with reporters late this morning, the Netherlands was tied with Cuba in the bottom of the ninth inning of its elimination game in the World Baseball Classic. By the time Johnson's session had ended, the Netherlands had won on a walk-off sacrifice fly. Johnson, who managed the Netherlands in the 2004 Summer Olympics, was told of the win as he headed out to get ready for batting practice to start. "All right!" Johnson yelled,...

BRADENTON, Fla. - The Orioles made three roster moves before today's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, optioning outfielder Xavier Avery and pitchers Zach Clark and Mike Belfiore to Triple-A Norfolk. They will report to the Twin Lakes Park complex until the Tides' season starts. Avery went 2-for-11 with two RBIs in 12 games. He never had a chance to make the 25-man roster with an abundance of outfielders in camp. Clark (UMBC) allowed three runs and six hits in seven innings, and manager...

The Orioles today announced that they have optioned right-hander Zach Clark, left-hander Mike Belfiore and outfielder Xavier Avery to Triple-A Norfolk. With these assignments, the Orioles now have 53 players at major league spring training, including 16 non-roster invitees.

VIERA, Fla. - Gio Gonzalez will actually get a chance to put on a Team USA jersey. For a while there, Team USA looked like it might get bounced from the World Baseball Classic early, failing to make it out of pool play and leaving Gonzalez without an opportunity to pitch in the tournament. Instead, the Americans made a late comeback against Team Canada yesterday, securing a spot in the second round and giving Gonzalez a chance to take the hill for his country. The Nationals left-hander will...