Home runs, at least in theory, are not finite. Celebratory home run fireworks, however, are finite.
The Baltimore Orioles learned that during the course of their 10-3 drubbing of the division-rival Boston Red Sox on Friday night, as they mashed six home runs on the night at the expense of Boston pitching. That was enough to, yes, exhaust the supply of fireworks at Camden Yards:
Is it really a home run by the home team if fireworks don’t immediately ensue? Yes, it is, actually, as both the Orioles hitters and Red Sox moundsmen will surely attest. Behold the depletion of the Orioles’ pyro reserves:
Dylan Beavers, Gunnar Henderson, and Adley Rutschman got the show started with a trio of homers in the first inning. Then Samuel Basallo homered in the third, and Rutschman hit his second clout of the night in the fourth. Coby Mayo concluded matters with a homer in the fifth, and he’s now homered in three straight games. For those keeping tabs, that’s six homers in five innings.
As MLB.com notes, Camden Yards has enough fireworks to handle six home runs per game, and those supplies were emptied out by the time the game was barely half over. From that point, though, Orioles hitters cooperated and didn’t homer again. In all, the Orioles racked up 2,401 feet of home runs on Friday night, or almost half a mile of longball. It marked the 14th time in franchise history that the Orioles have homered six or more times in a home game. The franchise record for home runs in a home game is eight, set on June 16, 2015, in a game against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Rutschman’s work is worth highlighting. Thanks to his pair of homers, the 28-year-old catcher is now slashing .349/.417/.698 with three homers in 43 at-bats this season. While the underlying batted-ball metrics suggest Rutschman has been a bit lucky to date, it’s still a welcome surge for a hitter who’s seen his year-to-year production decline every season since his rookie campaign of 2022. Rutchsman’s Orioles with the win pulled to .500 on the year at 13-13. They’re in third place and four games behind the first-place New York Yankees.
As for the struggling Red Sox, who are now 9-17 and in last place in the American League East, their pitchers have now allowed 37 home runs on the season. Only the staffs of the rebuilding Washington Nationals and injury-ravaged Houston Astros have permitted more in 2026. Boston starter Brayan Bello has now allowed 24 runs in 22 innings this season.
