The rookie who is forever linked to Pete Alonso’s 300th home run celebration

Join the dugout. Sign up here for Orioles updates in your inbox.

In the chaos that follows a momentous occasion such as this, major leaguers turn rowdy and the beer flows, or sprays, all over the walls. On this night, there was plenty of reason to be rowdy. Pete Alonso, the veteran force for the Orioles, joined an exclusive club by hitting his 300th home run.

Naturally, Alonso was thrown into a laundry cart and guided into the showers in the visiting clubhouse at Citi Field in New York. Beers cracked open, clothes became soaked and players hooted and hollered.

But right next to Alonso on Tuesday night, in a separate laundry cart at the eye of the storm, was a rookie reliever sharing in one of Baltimore’s largest celebrations this year. It was Alex Hoppe, the right-hander who arrived in a trade last month, celebrating his first career win.

“Baseball is a beautiful game sometimes,” left-hander Trevor Rogers said.

Long into the future, everyone in that shower-beer-party will remember whom they were celebrating. Alonso’s historic homer, yes. But also a rookie reliever’s first win. They’re at very different points in their careers — one reaching baseball immortality, the other just starting — but all milestones are worth celebrating.

“It’s such a baseball moment, and that’s why I love this game,” manager Craig Albernaz said. “You can have someone hit their 300th home run and also a reliever getting his first win as a rookie, and they’re both getting beer showers. … That’s what makes baseball great. You have those team moments, and you also recognize the ‘small’ individual accomplishments. Pete’s is big and Hoppe’s is not small, because every accomplishment in this league is big.”

That’s how Hoppe found himself right alongside Alonso with beer spraying all over.

And Alonso’s teammates weren’t surprised to see this slugger share the spotlight. Before they mobbed him, Alonso gave a speech.

“As easy as it can be to get wrapped up in a milestone like that, he talked to us postgame and said it was nothing about him. It was how good we did to come back after being down late,” Rogers said. “That’s the kind of guy he is, the kind of teammate he is. He could’ve not said anything about that. It was his 300th homer. But he’s just a team guy.”

On the field before Friday’s game, Hoppe said all the right things, too. He said the win matters most, and he was probably accurate when he said that in a month no fan will remember it was Hoppe who earned his first win that night.

At the same time, Hoppe will remember it. His family will remember it. Just as for his debut, and for his first save, Hoppe received a baseball from his outing. He also received a memory few people could even imagine.

“I think he can kind of hold that close to him for the rest of his life,” Coby Mayo said. “[Alonso’s] 300th career homer beer shower, and he’s right there alongside with him. Good for Hoppe.”

Hoppe arrived as part of the deal that sent outfielder Taylor Ward to the Seattle Mariners, and he has fit into this quirky bullpen group by following along and not questioning the weird traditions.

The 27-year-old tends to be a quiet figure. He does his work diligently. He chats here and there, but he’s not a boisterous guy like Rece Hinds and Colton Cowser. That is what makes him a fascinating fit for what Hoppe described as an “uncomfortable and cold” but incredible experience alongside Alonso.

Hoppe isn’t surprised, he said, that the Orioles remembered to celebrate him the same way for his first win.

“I think they just wanted another excuse to give another beer shower,” he joked.

But it’s not just that, even if that’s a big part.

“It speaks to the character and the group of guys we have in here,” Hoppe said. “Big accomplishments, small accomplishments, winning is hard and getting these accomplishments are hard and stuff, so it shows the true character of these guys and how we root for each other.”