Anthony Rendon, the Nationals' No. 6 overall selection in June's draft, suffered an injury rounding third base in the fourth inning of high Single-A Potomac's 7-2 loss to Lynchburg at City Stadium on Saturday night. Rendon was removed from the game. According to a club source, Rendon suffered a lower leg injury. Rendon had doubled and was trying to score on a bloop single by Justin Bloxom. The severity of the injury is unknown at this time. Rendon had recovered from setbacks during his...

For Tommy Hunter, it was just a matter of doing what he is expected to do. "Starting pitchers are supposed to go deep into the game, give your team a chance to win," he said after a strong seven-plus innings as the Orioles beat Minnesota 8-2 to improve to 2-0. "Just throw strikes and let the defense play. They made some plays all night behind me," he said after giving up six hits and two unearned runs. Hunter and Jake Arrieta have combined to pitch 14 innings without allowing an earned...

Third baseman Mark Reynolds fouled a ball off his instep, which is why Ryan Flaherty replaced him at third base in the ninth inning. Showalter says Reynolds should be fine. The Orioles will go for their first sweep of the Twins in Baltimore since August 2002. Nick Markakis is 5-for-7 to start the season. "I see the things Nick plays through that a lot of people ... you really get his attention when you don't write him in there," manager Buck Showalter said. "And he's such a great...

On a night the Orioles broke out some big offense, another excellent outing by a starting pitcher set the tone for a second straight win over the Minnesota Twins. Tommy Hunter followed up Jake Arrieta's outstanding opening day performance by pitching seven-plus strong innings tonight in the Orioles' 8-2 win over Minnesota in front of 31,532 at Camden Yards. Tommy Hunter talks about his strong start in the Orioles' 8-2 win Hunter took a shutout into the eighth but left the game when...

The middle of the Orioles batting order delivered some key offense for the Orioles in their season-opening win, with Nick Markakis producing a homer and three RBIs. Tonight, the bottom of the order has contributed five hits, four runs and two RBIs between Ronny Paulino and Robert Andino. The Paulino-Andino combo has been retired just once tonight by Twins pitching. After Adam Jones' homer in the second gave the O's a 1-0 lead, Paulino and Andino both singled and scored in the third and...

It may sound like a cliche, but it's so true. The Orioles won't improve until their starting pitching does, and it's been outstanding for the first two games of the 2012 season. Yesterday, Jake Arrieta blanked the Twins on two hits over seven innings. Tonight, Tommy Hunter is blanking the Twins on four hits over six innings. It hasn't been easy for Hunter. He gave up an infield hit in the first inning, an infield hit and a clean single in the second, and a leadoff double in the fourth....

CHICAGO - If you look at Gio Gonzalez's stat line from tonight and think that he left Wrigley Field disappointed with his performance, you'd be wrong. The Nationals starter actually says he was perfectly fine with his 3 2/3 innings, in which he allowed four runs on seven hits with three walks and six strikeouts. "It was exactly what I wanted," Gonzalez said. "I was in the strike zone. I felt like I was in the strike zone. I felt like I was getting contact, making the guys swing the bat....

CHICAGO - Around 2:50 p.m. Central time, Chad Tracy - he of the .235 batting average and one home run in Japan last year - was trending on Twitter. Not just in the Washington, D.C., area. Nationwide. Tracy's reaction to the fact that likely tens of thousands of people were sending out messages about him on the popular social media platform? "Oh really? That's good to know," he said, a smile creeping across his face. Twitter might not really be Tracy's thing, but delivering clutch hits...

Adam Jones gave the Orioles a 1-0 lead in the second inning with his first home run of the season. Jones went to the opposite field against Twins starter Francisco Liriano, who struck out the side in the first inning. Jones has two homers in eight career at-bats against Liriano. Liriano has four strikeouts in two innings tonight. Orioles starter Tommy Hunter has allowed three hits in two innings, though his line includes two infield singles and a ground ball up the middle that barely eluded...

CHICAGO - After Thursday's game, in which Adam LaRoche went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts, his 9-year-old son Drake approached him with a question. "What were you doing?" Drake asked his father. All the Nationals' first baseman could do was laugh. "I said, 'Drake, you're exactly right,' " LaRoche said. LaRoche didn't know exactly why he struggled so badly in the Nationals' opening day win over the Cubs. But he knew going forward he needed to just stay focused, not try to do too...