MItchell Parker works 8 innings of 1-hit ball as Nationals rout Orioles 7-0

WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitchell Parker pitched eight innings to combine on a one-hitter, Nathaniel Lowe and Dylan Crews homered, and the Washington Nationals defeated the Baltimore Orioles 7-0 in the opener of a three-game series on Tuesday night.

James Wood had three hits on his bobblehead night and scored twice for Washington, which won for the third time in four games. Keibert Ruiz and José Tena also had three-hit outings for the Nationals.

Playing for the first time since Sunday’s 24-2 loss to Cincinnati, Baltimore didn’t get a runner past second base until the ninth inning. Cedric Mullins accounted for the Orioles’ lone hit with a one-out single in the third, and Baltimore was shut out for the third time this season.

Parker (3-1) struck out four and walked two while setting down his last 17 batters and lowering his ERA to 1.39. It was the longest outing of the left-hander’s 34-start big league career.

Colin Poche and Cole Henry finished.

Lowe hit a two-run homer off Dean Kremer (2-3) in the first. Tena tripled in the second and scored on Kremer’s wild pitch to make it 3-0, and the Nationals added RBI singles by Luis García Jr. and Ruiz in the fifth.

Crews led off the sixth with a home run, and Ruiz poked an RBI double in the seventh.

Kremer allowed six runs and 11 hits in 5 1/3 innings.

Lowe’s home run on Kremer’s sixth pitch provided Washington a lead that Baltimore never threatened.

Kremer gave up six runs — five earned — raising the season ERA of Orioles starters to a majors-worst 6.22.

Baltimore RHP Tomoyuki Sugano (2-1, 3.43 ERA) faces Washington RHP Trevor Williams (1-2, 5.95) on Wednesday night.

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Washington Nationals' Jose Tena runs towards home plate to score on a wild pitch by Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Dean Kremer during the second inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Baltimore Orioles shortstop Gunnar Henderson throws to first base on a ball hit by Washington Nationals' James Wood for a single during the second inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Washington Nationals' Jose Tena, right, slides towards third base for a triple against Baltimore Orioles third baseman Jordan Westburg (11) during the second inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Washington Nationals starting pitcher Mitchell Parker throws against the Baltimore Orioles during the second inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Dean Kremer throws during the second inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Dean Kremer throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Washington Nationals' Nathaniel Lowe celebrates his two-run home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Washington Nationals' Nathaniel Lowe, left, celebrates his two-run home run with third base coach Ricky Gutierrez, right, during the first inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Washington Nationals' Nathaniel Lowe, left, celebrates his two-run home run with left fielder James Wood, right, during the first inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Washington Nationals starting pitcher Mitchell Parker throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles, Tuesday, April 22, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Protests sweeping across Iran neared the two-week mark Saturday, with the country’s government acknowledging the ongoing demonstrations despite an intensifying crackdown and as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. But the death toll in the protests has grown to at least 65 people killed and over 2,300 others detained, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. Iranian state TV is reporting on security force casualties while portraying control over the nation.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has signaled a coming clampdown, despite U.S. warnings. Tehran escalated its threats Saturday, with the Iran’s attorney general, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, warning that anyone taking part in protests will be considered an “enemy of God,” a death-penalty charge. The statement carried by Iranian state television said even those who “helped rioters” would face the charge.

“Prosecutors must carefully and without delay, by issuing indictments, prepare the grounds for the trial and decisive confrontation with those who, by betraying the nation and creating insecurity, seek foreign domination over the country,” the statement read. “Proceedings must be conducted without leniency, compassion or indulgence.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered support for the protesters.

“The United States supports the brave people of Iran,” Rubio wrote Saturday on the social platform X. The State Department separately warned: “Do not play games with President Trump. When he says he’ll do something, he means it.”

Saturday marks the start of the work week in Iran, but many schools and universities reportedly held online classes, Iranian state TV reported. Internal Iranian government websites are believed to be functioning.

State TV repeatedly played a driving, martial orchestral arrangement from the “Epic of Khorramshahr” by Iranian composer Majid Entezami, while showing pro-government demonstrations. The song, aired repeatedly during the 12-day war launched by Israel, honors Iran's 1982 liberation of the city of Khorramshahr during the Iran-Iraq war. It has been used in videos of protesting women cutting away their hair to protest the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini as well.

“Field reports indicate that peace prevailed in most cities of the country at night,” a state TV anchor reported. “After a number of armed terrorists attacked public places and set fire to people’s private property last night, there was no news of any gathering or chaos in Tehran and most provinces last night.”

That was directly contradicted by an online video verified by The Associated Press that showed demonstrations in northern Tehran's Saadat Abad area, with what appeared to be thousands on the street.

“Death to Khamenei!” a man chanted.

The semiofficial Fars news agency, believed to be close to Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and one of the few media outlets able to publish to the outside world, released surveillance camera footage of what it said came from demonstrations in Isfahan. In it, a protester appeared to fire a long gun, while others set fires and threw gasoline bombs at what appeared to be a government compound.

The Young Journalists' Club, associated with state TV, reported that protesters killed three members of the Guard’s all-volunteer Basij force in the city of Gachsaran. It also reported a security official was stabbed to death in Hamadan province, a police officer killed in the port city of Bandar Abbas and another in Gilan, as well as one person slain in Mashhad.

The semiofficial Tasnim news agency, also close to the Guard, claimed authorities detained nearly 200 people belonging to what it described as “operational terrorist teams.” It alleged those arrested had weapons including firearms, grenades and gasoline bombs.

State television also aired footage of a funeral service attended by hundreds in Qom, a Shiite seminary city just south of Tehran.

Iran’s theocracy cut off the nation from the internet and international telephone calls on Thursday, though it allowed some state-owned and semiofficial media to publish. Qatar's state-funded Al Jazeera news network reported live from Iran, but they appeared to be the only major foreign outlet able to work.

Iran's exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, who called for protests Thursday and Friday, asked in his latest message for demonstrators to take to the streets Saturday and Sunday. He urged protesters to carry Iran's old lion-and-sun flag and other national symbols used during the time of the shah to “claim public spaces as your own.”

Pahlavi's support of and from Israel has drawn criticism in the past — particularly after the 12-day war. Demonstrators have shouted in support of the shah in some protests, but it isn’t clear whether that’s support for Pahlavi himself or a desire to return to a time before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country's economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran's theocracy.

Airlines have cancelled some flights into Iran over the demonstrations. Austrian Airlines said Saturday it had decided to suspend its flights to Iran “as a precautionary measure” through Monday. Turkish Airlines earlier announced the cancellation of 17 flights to three cities in Iran.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from video taken by an individual not employed by The Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran shows a fire as people protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from video taken by an individual not employed by The Associated Press and obtained by the AP outside Iran shows people during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

This frame grab from a video released Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, by Iranian state television shows a man holding a device to document burning vehicles during a night of mass protests in Zanjan, Iran. (Iranian state TV via AP)