The Orioles drafted Jerry Hairston Jr., in 1997, and when he made his big-league debut at Camden Yards against the Angels on Sept. 11, 1998, the Hairstons became the first African-American family to have three generations play in the major leagues. Hairston hit 26 home runs with the Orioles from 1998 through 2004 and then played with eight other teams, including the 2011 Nationals. His grandfather, Sam, played for the Birmingham Barons and won the Negro American League Triple Crown for the 1950...

The regular season for the Orioles should be four games old. A home series against the Yankees completed and the middle game pending in a home series against the Red Sox. The first trip to St. Louis since 2003 was supposed to happen over the weekend, followed by a four-game series in the Bronx. Instead, the coronavirus pandemic has left us wondering if there will be a 2020 season and whether the Orioles will return to Sarasota for a second version of spring training. The Ed Smith Stadium...

Playing the percentages, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle pulled starting left-handed pitcher Paul Maholm in the bottom of the seventh inning in a 2-2 game. Hurdle brought in right-handed reliever Jose Ascanio to face Nationals switch-hitting second baseman Danny Espinosa, who has had only three hits in his last nine games and was 0-for-2 Monday night. Danny Espinosa talks about his strong at-bats in the Nationals' win Espinosa, switching over to bat left-handed, saw the move being made and...

Danny Espinosa welcomed Pirates relief pitcher Jose Ascanio to Nationals Park Monday night with a two-run blast deep into the right field bullpen, lifting the Washington Nationals to a 4-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates before 21,960. Nationals starter John Lannan struggled throwing strikes early on, but settled down to go 6 1/3 innings, scattering seven hits, allowing only two runs with four walks and four strikeouts. Cole Kimball pitched one inning of relief for his first major league...

Update: The game headed to extra innings, but it didn't take long for the Nationals to respond. With runners on second and third in the top of the 10th, Adam LaRoche hit a sacrifice fly to center field, good enough to score Jayson Werth from third. The run would be enough for Drew Storen and Sean Burnett, who took care of the Marlins in the bottom half of the inning. Nationals win, 3-2. The Nationals' Jerry Hairston Jr. is off to a good start against the Marlins Ricky Nolasco with a double,...

Marlins starter Ricky Nolasco has five strikeouts through two innings but somehow the Nationals got something going in the second. After two outs, Pudge got a base hit. Jerry Hairston followed with a double that scored Pudge. Ian Desmond then struck out swinging to end the inning. Nolasco struck out the side and had five strikeouts through two frames. The Nationals led 1-0 heading to the third. Jordan ZImmermann has allowed a first inning single to former National Emilio Bonifacio, but...

Sometimes you need a little encouragement from your teammate. Someone else who is going through the same battle you are, someone else who struggled like you did and then came through. Such was the scenario for Nationals teammates Michael Morse and Jerry Hairston Jr., Monday night as they took on San Francisco Giants left-hander Madison Bumgarner. Both Morse and Hairston had been unable to notch a hit off the talented young southpaw. In the fifth inning, Morse struck out looking and...

Now that Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman is going to be out of the lineup for an extended period of time, what can the team do to add some punch to an offense that continues to struggle to put runs on the board? I started to think of possible solutions available right now on the current 25-man roster. One possible avenue is more playing time for Laynce Nix, who has had some big hits in limited duty this season. Nix has cranked game-winning home runs against the New York Mets and San...

The Nationals begin their second road trip of the season tonight in St. Louis against the Cardinals, looking for their first four-game win streak of the campaign and their first back-to-back series triumphs. It will be a difficult task at Busch Stadium, where the Nats haven't won a game since 2007. First baseman Adam LaRoche said a major reason for their modest win streak is the offense finally helped out the pitching in a weekend sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers. "I think what is really...

Nationals third baseman Jerry Hairston Jr. had just one hit in 23 at-bats to start the season before breaking out with a 3-for-3 performance in Game Two of Washington's 5-1 doubleheader sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers. Hairston got the offense going for the Nationals with a solo home run against Brewers right hander and former Nationals pitcher Marco Estrada. His round-tripper, only the 60th of his career, came in the middle of four consecutive strikeouts by the Milwaukee starter and lifted...