The “Beltway Series” continued Friday night in Baltimore with the Washington Nationals (41-42) making the trip up the Parkway to Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The Baltimore Orioles spoiled that trip, at least for a night, with a 3-1 win in front of 26,901 fans at the Yard.
The story of the game started and ended with strong pitching on the Orioles part. The Nationals’ bats had no realistic answer for what the Orioles threw at them.
Trevor Rogers (5-7) made his 15th start of the season count. Keeping the Nationals off the scoreboard until the fifth inning, Rogers allowed the Nats lone run on five hits over 6.1 innings while striking out 7. After facing the minimum number of batters in the first three innings, Rogers escaped a threat in the fourth inning. The inning opened with a double by James Wood followed by a single from Curtis Mead. With runners at second and third, Blaze Alexander cut Wood down at home on a fielder’s choice. A pop out and a ground out ended the threat.
Washington broke through in the fifth inning with a one-out double and a two-out RBI single. A lead-off double in the sixth was the final hit the Nationals would record on the night. Tyler Wells (0.2 IP), Grant Wolfram (1.0 IP) and Ryan Helsley (1.0 IP) made sure of that.
The Orioles scored all the runs they would eventually need in the fourth. A double by Coby Mayo and a walk by Tyler O’Neill opened the inning. Jackson Holliday walked with two outs to load the bases and Alexander’s RBI single allowed two runs to score.
In the seventh, Taylor Ward (3 for 5, R) singled and scored on Mayo’s RBI double to tack on an additional run. Batting in the clean-up spot, Mayo went 2 for 4 with the pair of doubles, 1 run scored and 1 RBI.
Hopefully Friday night’s win can start an extended (>3 games) winning streak.
2026 Record: 39-44
Next Game: Sat. 6/27 @ 7:05 pm vs. Washington Nationals
