Gunnar Henderson led off the third inning last night by barreling a cutter from Tampa Bay’s Zach Eflin and driving it into right-center field at 99.9 mph off the bat.
Manuel Margot raced to the gap, dived and missed it. Luke Raley tried to pick up the ball with his glove and failed on the first attempt as Henderson kept motoring.
The official scorer gave him a triple on the play, and he scored on Jorge Mateo’s ground ball to the right side.
Henderson also flied out and grounded out and is batting .179 with a .665 OPS in 31 games. He hasn’t gone on a tear, but the Orioles expect it to happen and are staying patient with the former No. 1 prospect in baseball.
“There’s been some encouraging stuff,” executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias said yesterday in his first media session since the end of spring training.