BALTIMORE — Austin Hays looked back into the Orioles’ dugout as he passed first base, as if he wanted to see the expressions on his teammates faces. The ball that had just left his bat — a rocket that just cleared the newly remodeled left-field wall — continued a power barrage off Minnesota Twins pitching, and his might’ve been the most impressive blast of the lot.
The 30 extra feet and 13-foot wall that now stands in left field at Oriole Park at Camden Yards has been an imposing figure to beat. The lone player to do so before Thursday was first baseman Ryan Mountcastle. Other balls have launched and hovered and died somewhere short of that fence.
But not Hays’ ball. That long ball was one of five homers from Orioles hitters Thursday, a bombardment that sank the Twins in the series finale, 5-3, to end the four-game set split at two games apiece.
