Gunnar Henderson’s sprinkler celebration within the eighth inning Sunday was delayed.
Instead of his teammates ready within the dugout desirous to spit water for the second half of the doubles celebration, they regarded on the 22-year-old rookie with exasperated expressions.
Henderson had simply handed up the chance to hit for the cycle — an achievement solely seven gamers in Orioles historical past have achieved — by sprinting previous first on his rocket down the correct subject line and cruising into second for a double.
The choice by Henderson sparked a debate between Orioles gamers — and followers on-line — about whether or not he ought to have stayed at first to safe the uncommon feat.
“If it was me, I would’ve fallen at first base and just stayed there, you know?” shortstop Jorge Mateo mentioned with a smile by way of workforce interpreter Brandon Quinones. “But he has every right to make his own decision, and he chose to go to second.”
Henderson mentioned he contemplated what he would do in such a state of affairs earlier than his at-bat, selecting to play the sport as regular and let the chips fall the place they might.
“I just kind of settled on the fact if it was meant to be, it would be a true single,” he mentioned. “I felt like that’s just the way I play and it wasn’t meant to be.”
Most of his teammates didn’t agree. He mentioned 95% of them thought he ought to’ve remained at first contemplating the historic nature of hitting for a cycle. It would’ve been the second Orioles cycle this yr as Cedric Mullins achieved the feat May 12 in opposition to the Pirates. The solely Orioles gamers to take action are Austin Hays (2022), Jonathan Villar (2019), Félix Pie (2009), Aubrey Huff (2007), Cal Ripken Jr. (1984) and Brooks Robinson (1960).
“I was just trying to play the game the right way,” Henderson mentioned.
One of the few to come back to his protection was Ryan Mountcastle.
“I’m on his side,” the primary baseman mentioned. “In the moment, I’m like, ‘Ah, a 10-run game, you could really just stay at first.’ But I think I overheard him say you’ve got to play the game the right way, and he did. That was a double for sure.”
When Henderson turned to the dugout after the double — his fourth extra-base hit of the afternoon in Baltimore’s 12-1 win over the Oakland Athletics — he regarded confusedly on the response from his teammates. He then did an abbreviated sprinkler, however his teammates had been too flabbergasted to carry up their finish of the cut price by spraying water from their mouths. The just one to take action in view of the printed’s tv cameras was Dean Kremer, who slowly spit the water out of his mouth as a substitute of doing so with the everyday gusto.
Mullins, Adam Frazier and Ryan McKenna all had their palms up in puzzlement. James McCann gesticulated his displeasure with a number of arm waves. Danny Coulombe shrugged as Henderson stood on second, and the American League Rookie of the Year frontrunner gave what Mid-Atlantic Sports Network announcer Kevin Brown known as a “sheepish grin” in return.
“And you know what? Gunnar Henderson is not gonna stop at first,” Brown mentioned because the star infielder rounded first. “Who needs a cycle when you could pick up your fourth extra-base hit of the game? The Orioles bench is saying you should’ve stopped at first.”
“The whole bench is wanting him to put the brakes on at first base, but he is wound tight,” Brown’s shade commentator Ben McDonald mentioned. “There is no way he is stopping at first base.”
As Henderson smiles in direction of the primary base dugout at Oakland Coliseum, his supervisor gave a smile of approval in return.
“You know what? Gunnar plays the game at one speed, and that’s hard. And that’s the right way,” Hyde mentioned. “Unless he tripped over the bag, I didn’t see that taking place as a result of that’s how exhausting he performs.
“Maybe he’s working on his OPS. He plays the game a million miles an hour. It’d be hard for him, I’m sure, to pull up.”
Hitting for the cycle is without doubt one of the hardest feats to perform in baseball. But as one of many Orioles’ greatest gamers in his first full huge league season, Sunday in all probability wasn’t Henderson’s final probability to take action.
“He’s going to have 650 at-bats a year for a while now,” Hyde mentioned. “So I think he’s going to have the opportunity.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com