BALTIMORE (AP) — So far, it's the opposition taking advantage of the latest change in dimensions at Camden Yards.
The Boston Red Sox hit three two-run home runs Thursday in an 8-4 win over Baltimore, and all of them went to left field, where the Orioles moved the wall in a bit during the offseason. Alex Bregman's drive in the first reached the seats, meaning it would have been gone in 2024 as well, but the other two homers didn't.
Baltimore moved the wall back and made it significantly taller before the 2022 season, then decided that was excessive and moved it in before this season. The Orioles moved the wall in approximately 13 feet in the left field corner and about 26 feet near the bullpens in left-center. The team also lowered the previous 13-foot wall near the left field foul pole to 8 feet, and the wall height was lowered to just below 7 feet near the bullpens.
“Very nice, very nice,” Bregman said, laughing. “It was very far away before.”
In the first home series of the season, the Orioles dropped two of three to the Red Sox. The home run tally was Boston 4, Baltimore 1 — with all four of the homers by the Red Sox going to left.
The only home run by the Orioles was by Cedric Mullins on Thursday, and it went over the unchanged wall in right.
Bregman said he did not use a new torpedo bat Thursday after trying it out Wednesday. His homer in the first made it 2-0, and then Kristian Campbell's an inning later gave Boston a 4-1 advantage. Triston Casas added a homer in the seventh to put the Red Sox up 7-3.
Casas bats left-handed but was able to hit the ball out to the opposite field. That was a tough task with the previous dimensions in Baltimore.
“I try to not focus too much on the dimensions of the field,” Casas said. “I did hint at wanting to hit the ball to the opposite field at Fenway, but it's just obvious — it's just all in your face right there. I know the ball flies to right here. That's typically the jet stream out there to right-center.”
On Thursday, the Red Sox made the ball fly to left as well.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB
Noah Trister, The Associated Press
