O's reliever who loves catching HRs in his hat does it again
Cionel Pérez has a perfectly good mitt, but when he's sitting in the Orioles bullpen and one of his teammates sends a deep drive his way, you won't see him reach out with his glove. You see, he'd rather use his hat.
So when Connor Norby cranked a solo shot directly into the visiting bullpen on Wednesday at loanDepot park, P¨¦rez was ready. The left-hander barely had to move. He nonchalantly rose from the bullpen bench, doffed his chapeau and snagged the 379-foot drive in the crown of his cap.
And it's not the first time he's done this -- it's not even the first time this year, as MLB.com Orioles beatwriter Jake Rill broke down earlier this month. He's got at least three hat grabs under his belt already this season, and his teammates get a kick out of the 28-year-old's enthusiasm for the simple bit.
¡°He looks as if he were the one that hit the home run or he made some spectacular play, just because he caught the home run ball,¡± fellow reliever Yennier Cano joked. ¡°So it¡¯s always pretty funny.¡±
No matter how much his teammates love to see him scramble after homers, they probably appreciate more what he did later on Wednesday: Secure the last three outs of a hard-fought 7-6 win in Miami.