The Orioles are all about hydrating.
Baltimore hit three home runs Monday in its 5-1 win over the Oakland Athletics — ample opportunity to debut its new home run celebration.
A week after introducing the sprinkler and dugout water streaming as their doubles tradition, the Orioles (5-5) celebrated the three blasts — from Ryan Mountcastle, Adley Rutschman and Austin Hays — by chugging water from a snake funnel.
“I love it,” Rutschman said. “We’re just huge proponents of staying hydrated. That’s what we’re about — doing the little things like that.”
While fans on social media attempted to nickname the celebration, starting pitcher Kyle Gibson clarified that its official name is the “homer hose.”
“We want to make sure that it’s rebranded a little bit. It’s a homer hose, not a, uh, a dong bong,” Gibson said with a smile after allowing one run in 6 1/3 innings. “So it’s a homer hose, just like as a kid, you go out back, you take a drink from the water hose after you play outside playing whiffle ball. So we’ve got a turn the water faucet on celebration when you hit a single, we’ve got a sprinkler when you hit an extra-base hit and then it’s a homer hose when you hit a homer, just so we know that we get that straight.”
The ones enjoying the H2O are hitters, but it’s two pitchers who came up with the idea.
Left-handers Cole Irvin and Keegan Akin put their minds together, bought the supplies and constructed the hose Monday morning. Like two engineers concocting something in a lab, the lefties will continue tinkering with the hose, even after its successful debut.
“I gotta give the idea to [Irvin]. I can’t steal his idea,” said Akin, a reliever in his fourth season with the Orioles. “I just got brought into the manufacturing of the colors, the grunt work as just one would say, the plumbing job. So [Irvin] and I came up with the color scheme today, taped it all up. Trial and error, seemed to be a little long so we’re gonna have to trim it down I think for the future, but like it so far. Brought us three homers.”
Home run celebrations are nothing new for baseball teams. Last season, Orioles hitters coming back to the dugout after launching long balls were christened with a home run chain. Hays said he gulped the water seamlessly.
“I don’t know how much was in there. I was able to get it down pretty easily,” Hays said. “I don’t think I spilled any drops.
“Hopefully, I get to use it a lot more,” he added.
However, Hays does have one important question about the hose: Is it being cleaned after each homer?
“I hope we’re being sanitary and making sure that it’s cleaned up for every homer,” he said with a laugh.
“Hopefully, they clean it, and I get a taste of it later,” center fielder Cedric Mullins said.
Manager Brandon Hyde, who was ejected in the seventh inning after Mullins argued with a home-plate umpire Malachi Moore after being rung up on a high breaking ball and was also ejected, said he didn’t see the celebration while he was in the dugout but saw it back in his office.
“If we hit a bunch of homers, that’s great,” Hyde said. “I want guys to have fun, I want guys to be loose. I like celebration stuff. I think it brings teams together. So if guys like it, I’m all for it.”
The victory also showcased the impact of Camden Yards’ left field wall.
One day after the Orioles had two would-be home runs robbed by the wall, they had three more likely blasts taken away by Camden Yards’ new configurations.
But instead of shying away from the behemoth in deep left field, Mountcastle and Rutschman took the beast head-on and conquered it. Both sluggers blasted homers over the wall after previously being robbed — Mountcastle on Sunday and Rutschman in the first inning Monday — to lead an Orioles offense that was stymied by the New York Yankees in two losses over the weekend.
“I think our guys did a good job of not staying frustrated,” Hyde said.
The first home run gobbled up by the new dimensions — a wall pushed back about 30 feet and raised more than five feet in some areas — was off the bat of Rutschman in the first inning. Hitting right-handed Monday against left-handed starter JP Sears, Rutschman roped a pitch 372 feet to left field — a ball that would have likely been a homer at the old Oriole Park.
But Mountcastle avenged Rutschman by clobbering a low changeup 421 feet over the 398-foot sign at the farthest-right portion of the wall for a two-run homer. In Baltimore’s loss to the Yankees on Sunday, Mountcastle had a 363-foot flyout that was corralled by the wall. Mountcastle also had a lineout to the warning track in right field for two tough-luck outs — a season after the first baseman was one of the unluckiest hitters in baseball.
Two batters later, Austin Hays then crushed a ball off Sears that traveled 382 feet, but instead of clearing the wall, it came just short. It would’ve been a home run in all 29 other MLB ballparks, according to Statcast.
Like Mountcastle, though, Rutschman and Hays both bounced back with blasts later in the game. Rutschman launched a middle-in fastball 399 feet for a solo homer.
Three innings later, Hays chose a different path. Rather than go right at the wall, the outfielder lined a sinker from Jeurys Familia 107.3 mph over the center field fence.
“I was glad to see one go over,” Hays said. “The last few days I feel like my at-bats have been really solid, putting a lot of barrels on the ball in the air. I had one yesterday that I thought I hit pretty good, too, that was caught. Just to see the ball find some grass and be able to run around the bases a little bit was very satisfying.”
While the home runs and the new celebration were the highlights, Gibson was the throughline in Monday’s win. After an inefficient first inning, the 35-year-old right-hander was lights out the rest of the way, pitching 6 1/3 innings of one-run ball. He labored through the first, throwing 30 pitches, walking two batters and allowing an RBI triple to Ramón Laureano.
Gibson, who went seven innings against the Texas Rangers last week and is the first in MLB to win three games, is the only Orioles pitcher to record more than 18 outs in any of their 10 games this season. Baltimore signed the 11-year veteran to a one-year, $10 million contract this offseason, largely because of his ability to go deep in games and provide stability to a young rotation.
“That was a true veteran performance there,” Hyde said. “He just had a tough time kind of finding it. He just was missing off the edge a little bit and then got into a great groove following the first inning. Awesome to be able to go to the seventh inning for us after a tough first.”
The Orioles added an insurance run in the eighth on an RBI single from Ramón Urías to score Hays, who doubled to end his night 2-for-4.
Right-hander Bryan Baker, lefty Cionel Pérez and closer Félix Bautista followed Gibson (3-0) with scoreless appearances out of the bullpen. Bautista struck out the side in the non-save situation.
Around the horn
- Hyde said before the game that starting pitcher Kyle Bradish will begin his minor league rehabilitation assignment this week. The plan is for Bradish, who went on the 15-day injured list last week with a bruised right foot after taking a line drive off it, to throw “a few innings,” Hyde said. The right-hander is eligible to come off the IL on April 19 while the club is in Washington to face the Nationals.
- Infielder Gunnar Henderson wasn’t in the lineup Monday for just the second time this season, with Hyde saying it was a normal day off for the youngster. The 21-year-old is hitting .148. Instead, left-handed hitter Adam Frazier played second base.
- Before his ejection, Mullins stole second base in the first inning for his fifth swipe of the season. The Orioles entered Monday tied for first in the American League with 15 stolen bases.
Baltimore Sun reporter Nathan Ruiz contributed to this article.
Athletics at Orioles
Tuesday, 6:35 p.m.
TV: MASN
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
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