Davey Martinez knew what Joe Ross had been getting away with in recent starts before tonight's game in Arizona, and so the Nationals manager knew exactly what his right-hander needed to do to be successful in this outing. "The pitches are up," Martinez said during his pregame Zoom session with reporters. "When he's down, he's really effective." As such, it wasn't hard to figure out why Ross wasn't effective tonight during an 11-4 trouncing at the hands of the Diamondbacks. Plain and...

I just made another check of a few Orioles prospect lists and can't find any mention of Patrick Dorrian. Not a trace. The casual fan might ask, "Who's Patrick Dorrian?" He's the Double-A Bowie infielder who was the player to be named later in the May 2019 Yefry Ramirez trade with the Pirates. The former Braves 12th round pick in 2014 out of Kingston High School who was released two months later and signed by the Pirates four years later. Dorrian changed his mind about professional...

Getting ahead in the count didn't work for Jorge López. Falling behind didn't work, either. The first inning had been the kindest for López among his seven starts, with no runs allowed and only five baserunners. But he was 0-2 tonight on DJ LeMahieu and Luke Voit, and issued a walk and surrendered a hit. He walked Aaron Judge with the count 3-1 to load the bases with no outs. The Yankees siphoned 39 pitches out of López and scored three runs, Judge hit his prerequisite homer in the...

Yan Gomes had come up to bat with a chance to hit for the cycle before. Four times, in fact, as a big leaguer. But never like this. On those four previous occasions (once with the Nationals, three times with the Indians), Gomes needed a triple to complete the cycle. And in each case, he had only one at-bat at the end of the game to try to do it. So imagine how surreal it felt for the 33-year-old catcher when he stepped up to bat in the top of the sixth Friday night in Arizona, having already...

After Friday's 5-4 loss to the New York Yankees, the same two teams meet tonight at Oriole Park with the Orioles hosting the second game of a three-game series and six-game homestand. The O's scored three in the last of the fifth to lead 4-2 last night. That was before Gio Urshela's pinch-hit three-run homer in the seventh put New York ahead. The Yankees went on to win by that 5-4 margin. The Orioles have lost three one-run games in the last week to fall to 4-6 in one-run games. The O's...

The Orioles are waiting to announce Sunday afternoon's starter, whether it's a reliever coming out of their bullpen or perhaps a pitcher down at Triple-A Norfolk. They'll offer confirmation after tonight's game. Manager Brandon Hyde said there probably will be a roster move later tonight. They could recall, for example, left-hander Bruce Zimmermann and return him to the rotation. Zimmermann hasn't pitched since working three innings for the Tides on May 8 and allowing a two-run homer to...

The Nationals lineup had its best night of the season Friday in Arizona. Why not stick with it again tonight, right? That's Davey Martinez's thinking, and it's hard to fault the manager for that philosophy, especially after he spent the better part of the last month tinkering every single day with a new-look batting order. So tonight the Nats will again go with Trea Turner and Josh Harrison at the top, Josh Bell in the No. 6 spot and Victor Robles at the bottom, behind the pitcher. It's a...

The Orioles have both catchers in tonight's lineup as the series continues against the Yankees at Camden Yards. Pedro Severino is the designated hitter and Chance Sisco is behind the plate. Rio Ruiz is the third baseman instead of Maikel Franco, who's in a 4-for-52 slump. DJ Stewart is in right field and batting cleanup. Pat Valaika is the second baseman. Freddy Galvis moves down to fifth in the order after batting fourth last night for the first time in his career. Fifteen of Trey Mancini's...

After his latest scoreless outing for the Orioles last night, one that reduced his ERA to 1.27 over 21 1/3 innings, right-hander Adam Plutko said he is ready to take the ball again. He has carried a pretty heavy innings load so far, leading the team among relievers in innings. He has five more than Tanner Scott, the reliever with the next most innings after him. Right now, he said, rest can wait. "I love it," Plutko said. "I told Darren (Holmes, assistant pitching coach), 'Don't come and...

After an unseasonably cool spring on the East Coast that more often than not left their bats ice-cold, the Nationals might well have stepped onto the tarmac at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix late Thursday night, breathed in the scorching hot, dry desert air and wondered if they could just head straight to Chase Field to begin their series against the Diamondbacks early. Nothing fixes an unproductive lineup like temperatures in the upper 90s and a relative humidity of 10 percent....