Orioles manager Brandon Hyde, who very rarely sits down for his postgame news conference and offers any sort of opening remark, made a point to open by noting the goosebump-worthy energy filling Camden Yards for Monday’s home opener.
Its pregame peak of raucous cheers and twirling orange towels showered the longest-tenured Oriole’s lengthy run from the deepest part of center field down an endless orange carpet for possibly the final time. The 45,002 Camden Yards faithful appeared to thank Cedric Mullins — the last remaining rebuild survivor now in his final year of arbitration set to be a free agent in November — watching him trot what he called the longest intro of his six Opening Day starts the past seven years.
“The fans did not disappoint,” Mullins said.
The center fielder returned the gesture with two hits and four RBIs that powered the Orioles to an 8-5 win over the Boston Red Sox. Mullins now has seven hits and three runs with 10 RBIs through five games. His splits — albeit in a narrow sample size through the first week of the season — are an impressive .350/.409/1.109.
“Ced’s playing with a ton of life right now,” said Hyde, widening the scope beyond Mullins’ pair of opening day home runs. “These first five games, he’s playing really, really good baseball. Taking great at-bats. Our best baseball has always been when Ced’s going.”
Monday, he cracked a first-inning, two-RBI double into the right-center field gap. Mid-Atlantic Sports Network color analyst Ben McDonald had been praising Mulllins’ impressive spring training, crescendoing the exclamation that he’s been “on point!” as the ball — to steal a verb from play-by-play voice Kevin Brown — “jolted” toward the gap scoring Tyler O’Neill and Ryan Mountcastle for an early 4-0 lead.
Later in the eighth inning, Mullins gave Baltimore some much-needed breathing room on the scoreboard. He whacked a changeup that ricocheted into center field off the foot of Red Sox pitcher Cooper Criswell. Two more runs crossed the plate and earned Mullins the second-most RBIs (10) in Major League Baseball, trailing only the mega-watt Yankees slugger Aaron Judge (11). Mullins’ 10 RBIs through the first five games are his most during a five-game span in his career.
A sea of orange engulfing him during pregame intros that segued into a pair of crucial hits made Monday’s moment feel big. He doesn’t see it that way.
“Just trying to keep the moment simple,” Mullins said. “Those runs were huge for us in the long run. Just trying to take advantage with runners in scoring position is something we’ve worked on, [are] continuing to work on. It’s good to see it come to fruition.”
At one point, Mullins had to catch himself from falling too far in the opposite direction, turning a blind eye to a memorable day. So much so that he felt numb trying to zone in. He made sure to take a metaphorical step back and soak it in.
The Orioles need their 30-year-old security blanket steering the offense with shortstop Gunnar Henderson on the injured list because of a right intercostal strain and out of the lineup until at least Thursday and outfielder Colton Cowser now sidelined for a minimum of 6-8 weeks thanks to a left thumb fracture.
Mullins’ fast start is a far cry from his start to the past season.
From this time last year until June 8, 2024, he was hitting .170 with a .522 OPS. It wasn’t until June 10 he broke an agonizing 1-for-30, two-week stretch. Mullins was one of the best and most consistent hitters in Baltimore the rest of the way. Hyde said during spring training he hoped Mullins could carry that ending into 2025.
So far, he’s done exactly that.
“He’s driving in a lot of runs right now,” fellow outfielder Tyler O’Neill said. “So he’s obviously been very proven with the stick and just a very good player in the middle of our lineup.”
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