JUPITER, Fla. - Take away the first five Cardinals batters faced by Nationals pitching - all reaching base via hit, erasing a 2-0 deficit - and Davey Martinez would have spent his postgame press briefing talking about a day filled with dominant mound efforts. As it was, the Nationals were still pretty good - even starter Patrick Corbin, whose brief struggle with locating his fastball in the first inning allowed the Cardinals to take the lead for good in a game that breezed by in 2 hours, 19...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Velocity has been Tanner Rainey's calling card. Pitchers capable of throwing 100 mph tend to get noticed, and it was the right-hander's radar gun readings that made him attractive to the Nationals, who swapped righty Tanner Roark to the Reds at the Winter Meetings to acquire him. So why is Rainey spending spring training trying to slow things down? Like most hard throwers, Rainey has trouble repeating his mechanics. And when that happens, he tends to get a little out...

LAS VEGAS - Nationals pitcher Tanner Roark was traded Wednesday to the Reds, a team that's trying to rebuild its rotation and recover from four consecutive seasons of at least 90 losses. The Reds have had nothing but pitching problems. Last year, their staff gave up 5.06 runs a game, highest in the National League. The staff finished 14th in ERA (4.63) in 2018 and were last in 2017 at 5.17. Last year, the Reds fired their manager, Bryan Price, a former pitching coach, after the first 18 games,...

LAS VEGAS - Asked Tuesday about the possibility of trading Tanner Roark, Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo suggested such a move would only happen if the Nationals had already acquired another pitcher to fill that spot in a rotation top-heavy with talent but lacking in quality depth. This afternoon, Rizzo traded Roark to the Reds for a minor league reliever, leaving his rotation - for the moment - short a proven No. 4 starter. "Surprised," Roark said during a hastily arranged conference...