Orioles squeeze by Nationals, 3-1, as Trevor Rogers' surge continues

Matt Weyrich, The Baltimore Sun on Jun 26, 2026

Published in Baseball

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BALTIMORE — There’s no doubt about it anymore. Trevor Rogers is back.

After finishing May with a 6.84 ERA that had him searching for answers, the Orioles starter turned a corner when the calendar flipped to June, and he capped off the month with 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball Friday in Baltimore’s 3-1 win over the Washington Nationals. Rogers finished with a 2.05 ERA and 0.91 WHIP across five June starts.

The left-hander dominated the Nationals with a steady dose of four-seam fastballs, scattering five hits with seven strikeouts and zero walks on 87 pitches. He came out short of his season high with 15 swings and misses, including 13 on his four-seam.

Coby Mayo went 2 for 4 with two doubles and an RBI, Taylor Ward had three hits and Blaze Alexander came through with a two-run single with the bases loaded in the fourth to lead the way for the offense, which tallied eight hits and seven walks but left 11 runners on base.

The game was not without mistakes for Baltimore. Henderson recorded his eighth error of the season on a routine ground ball in the third, matching his total from the entire 2025 and briefly tying the Philadelphia Phillies’ Trea Turner for the fifth-most among all shortstops before Turner recorded one of his own in their game against the New York Mets.

Alexander also ran into an out on the base paths that cost the Orioles a run. After putting Baltimore ahead 2-0 with his bases-loaded knock in the fourth, he tried to go first to third on a single by Taylor Ward but was thrown out by Nationals right fielder James Wood before Jackson Holliday crossed the plate.

It was a similar play to June 8 against the Seattle Mariners when Alexander tried to tag up at first on a flyout to center field and was thrown out before Holliday, who was at third, could sprint home. Holliday appeared to be running at full speed on both plays, though he slid into the plate Friday rather than run through it as Henderson signaled for him to sprint.

Alexander did make up for it on the defensive side, fielding a sharp ground ball at third in the top half of the frame and throwing out Wood, who broke on contact, at home. Henderson did the same with a slick barehanded play on a slow grounder by Dylan Crews for the game’s final out.

Rogers worked with the run support he had. He was riding a 15-inning scoreless streak dating to June 14 until the fifth, when catcher Keibert Ruiz scored center fielder Jacob Young with a two-out RBI single. But Rogers was otherwise dominant, retiring eight of the first nine batters he faced and pitching into the seventh before manager Craig Albernaz lifted him for Tyler Wells with Crews on second and one out.

Wells then retired both batters he faced to strand Crews, Grant Wolfram set the Nationals down 1-2-3 in the eighth with a pair of strikeouts and closer Ryan Helsley — pitching at Camden Yards for the first time since April 28 — avoided any late-inning drama for a clean ninth that earned him his eighth save of the season.