They played three games in just slightly more than 24 hours, losing their biggest star to injury along the way and needing extra innings at the end of a really long day. After all that, at least the Nationals could say they walked away having won this rapid-fire series against the Giants. With a 6-2, 11-inning victory this evening made possible by Howie Kendrick's walk-off grand slam, the Nationals salvaged a doubleheader split. Combined with their rain-delayed win Saturday night (and early...

OAKLAND, Calif. - It is probably getting a little late in the season for the Orioles to take one step forward and then one back, but that is what they've been doing on their West Coast road trip. Today looked good early. Coming off a 20-hit, 12-5 win Saturday night, they took an early 2-0 lead. They had seven hits before they had made an out in the third inning. But when Oakland scored five runs in the fourth, the Orioles momentum hit a brick wall. They lost 9-3 to Oakland to split a four-game...

Right-hander Max Scherzer is rolling against the Giants in the nightcap of the day/night doubleheader. Scherzer dispatched nine straight hitters to get through three innings. He has struck out four, two of them looking. The Giants have managed only one ground ball out: Denard Span's grounder to second base that led off the game. Daniel Murphy slammed a solo homer in the bottom of the third off of Giants starter Matt Moore. It was his 20th homer of the season and came on a 2-2 pitch. The...

OAKLAND, Calif. - It looked like right-hander Jeremy Hellickson was rolling. He had pitched to an ERA of 2.08 in his first two Orioles starts. Then today, he got through the first three innings at Oakland with a 2-0 lead on just 24 pitches. But on a sunny afternoon at the Oakland Coliseum, looks were deceiving. Matt Chapman hit a three-run homer as Oakland scored five times in the fourth and went on to beat the Orioles 9-3 today. The Orioles split this four-game series and fall to 3-4 on this...

Bryce Harper's initial thought when he fell to the ground in heap Friday night? The same as everyone who was watching it in the stadium and on television: He might have suffered a major knee injury to end his season. "Of course, you're going to think the worst, and I'm one of the worst at it," Harper admitted this afternoon. "I think I'm going to die every time I have a stomachache. It's definitely a bad feeling." But while the rest of the baseball-watching world woke up this morning...

OAKLAND, Calif. - Orioles starting pitchers have been pitching better. We have the games and the stats to show us that. But manager Buck Showalter has been reluctant to say his rotation has turned any corners. There is good reason for that probably. He has seen the rotation pitch so poorly for most of this year. But coming into today's game, O's starters have allowed two earned runs or less 10 times in the past 15 games, pitching to an ERA of 2.64 in that span. They have nine quality starts...

The Nationals seek a series victory tonight in Game 2 of a day-night doubleheader with their ace, Max Scherzer, on the hill. Manager Dusty Baker said Saturday that Scherzer had the right to choose which game he would start on Sunday because he is the ace. When you get to be an ace of a staff, you can make that choice too. Scherzer is 12-5 with a 2.23 ERA. Excluding the Aug. 1 game in which he left after one inning with neck spasms, Scherzer has struck out nine or more batters in 12 of his last...

The Nationals may have had their spirits lifted by the news that Bryce Harper's knee injury is not as serious as they initially feared, but that wasn't enough to overcome a lack of sleep (or the Giants pitching staff) during today's doubleheader opener on South Capitol Street. Rookie right-hander Chris Stratton tossed seven scoreless innings, and the Nationals couldn't mount enough of a rally late during a 4-2 loss to San Francisco, a sour opening to a long day of baseball. Taking the field...

OAKLAND, Calif. - The Orioles are expected to add Rule 5 outfielder Anthony Santander to their major league roster next Thursday. That would be two days after his 20-day rehab assignment with Double-A Bowie ends. Teams have 48 hours after the end of the assignment to add players. Even though the Orioles are off that day, Santander will have to be added on the 17th and he would then be active when the Orioles start a six-game homestand next Friday. The 22-year-old native of Venezuela was taken...

Michael A. Taylor didn't expect it to take five weeks to return from a strained right oblique muscle. Then again, he also didn't expect to be summoned back to Washington this morning to replace an injured Bryce Harper. Nevertheless, Taylor found himself boarding a plane in Hartford early this morning bound for Washington, then hitching a quick ride to Nationals Park to be in the clubhouse in time for today's doubleheader against the Giants. Having already played both ends of Double-A...