TAMPA, Fla. — It wasn’t quite like Babe Ruth’s called shot, but Brandon Hyde, without knowing it, predicted Ryan Mountcastle’s home run Tuesday.

The Orioles played the New York Yankees at George M. Steinbrenner Field, the Bronx Bombers’ spring training home. It’s the last time this spring the Orioles will make the trip to Tampa to face the Yankees, but they’ll revisit the ballpark seven times this summer to face a different American League East team in games that count.

The Tampa Bay Rays will play their home games at Steinbrenner Field, a minor league park home to the Low-A Tampa Tarpons of the Florida State League, this season after Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg was damaged by Hurricane Milton in October. When discussing the hitter-friendly park, Hyde noted that it was built to replicate Yankee Stadium, which has a short porch in right field, and that there’s a “jet stream out to right field.”

An hour later, Mountcastle took advantage of it by lining a three-run homer to right field off Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt in the first inning. The long ball was well-hit, but it wouldn’t have left the yard in 16 of 30 MLB parks, according to Statcast tracking data.

“This is a good place to hit,” Mountcastle said.

“It’s small,” Hyde said. “It’s going to be a hitter’s park this summer.”

Hyde brought more veterans than he normally does for a spring road game because several players requested to make the trip to get experience hitting there.

“I wanted to get some of our guys at least a taste for this new ballpark,” he said.

Mountcastle was one of those players who approached Hyde about making the trip, hoping to get a feel for the batter’s eye in center field and the visuals at first base.

“I just wanted to get at least a game here before the season,” Mountcastle said. “Thankfully, I was able to and the schedule lined up. Just getting as much experience here as we can before the season starts.”

More disruptive than the size of the ballpark, though, will be the clouds and sun above it. Tropicana Field was a dome, protecting the field and players from Florida’s hot temperatures and frequent rain showers in the summer. Players won’t have that luxury at Steinbrenner Field this season, though most of the Rays’ home games will be played at night to avoid some of the heat and rain.

“Being from Florida, it’s going to be hot. I know that,” Mountcastle said. “It’s a nice field. It’s a decent setup. Just going to have to get used to it, I guess.”

Suárez heating up: Tuesday wasn’t Albert Suárez’s first time pitching at Steinbrenner Field. More than 13 years ago, Suárez was a prospect with the Rays in the Florida State League, and he knows the environment Tuesday isn’t what it’ll be like in June or July when the Orioles play the Rays.

“During the summer, I know there is a lot of rain,” Suárez said, recalling memories from his early 20s.

Suárez didn’t need to go back over a decade to remember facing the Yankees. He did so in June in one of his worst outings of an otherwise excellent season. Tuesday, the 35-year-old right-hander dominated for three innings before allowing two runs in his fourth frame.

Overall, it was a step in the right direction for Suárez after his slow start to spring training. He struck out six batters and generated 15 swings and misses, most of which on his four-seamer and cutter. In fact, his fastballs were so effective that he concluded he might have thrown too many breaking balls, though he noted that he wants to continue working on those offerings this spring.

“Well, most of the hits were soft contact on breaking balls, so I probably should have kept throwing fastballs,” he said with a laugh.

Suárez is competing for the No. 5 starter spot in the Orioles’ rotation, which opened up after Grayson Rodriguez’s elbow injury. It will either be Suárez or left-hander Cade Povich as Baltimore’s final starter. If Suárez loses out, he will almost certainly be in the bullpen.

“That’s unfortunate for [Rodriguez] to be hurt,” Suárez said. “I think, for me personally, I’m always ready for anything. It’s good if I can go four or five innings and be in the starting rotation, but I always think about just being ready for the team.”

Apple of Hyde’s eye: After Cedric Mullins’ RBI groundout in the fourth, the Orioles didn’t score again until the eighth in their 6-2 win over the Yankees. Outfield prospect Hudson Haskin doubled home TT Bowens, and spring standout Vimael Machín drove in Haskin with a ground ball single. Machín, a nonroster invitee second baseman the Orioles signed out of the Mexican League, is hitting .444 with a 1.113 OPS this spring.

But it was a pitcher at the end of the game that caught Hyde’s attention.

Zach Fruit, a starting pitcher the Orioles selected in the ninth round of the 2023 draft, struck out five batters across three innings. The right-hander lit up the radar gun with his high-90s mph fastball, topping out at 100.3 mph. Hyde said that it was the hardest pitch from any Oriole this spring.

“It was great to see some young guys get in there. Fruit at the end, that was impressive to watch, that was really fun,” Hyde said.

Fruit struck out 113 batters in 107 innings for High-A Aberdeen last season while posting a 3.03 ERA. On Monday, pitching prospects Levi Wells and Luis de León also impressed Hyde with how they threw against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

“I’m excited about the future of our pitching,” Hyde said.

Gunnar getting going: The Orioles got their first positive injury news this month.

Star shortstop Gunnar Henderson resumed baseball activities Tuesday for the first time since suffering a ribs muscle injury in late February. Hyde said that Henderson began a hitting program with some swings in the cage, and he will take ground balls Wednesday to begin a defensive progression.

“I just talked with our medical people, and that went extremely well,” Hyde said of Henderson’s first day back. “A little bit more each day. Tomorrow’s a big day from a ground ball standpoint.”

Henderson’s status for opening day remains up in the air as he’s spent most of the past two weeks recovering from what Hyde described as a “mild” intercostal strain.

If Henderson does miss time, it would be a massive loss for the Orioles’ offense, but it also creates a question mark defensively at shortstop. Jackson Holliday started at shortstop Monday to work at his old position in case he’s needed to play there in Henderson’s stead. A nonroster invitee such as Livan Soto could also make the opening day roster and fill in at shortstop until Henderson returns. Or Jorge Mateo, who is making his way back from left elbow surgery, expedites his recovery to be ready, which the shortstop said he believes will be the case.

Hyde said Mateo is “progressing extremely well” after participating fully in defensive drills Monday and taking batting practice on the field.

Have a news tip? Contact Jacob Calvin Meyer at jameyer@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/JCalvinMeyer.