NEW YORK -- Over the past few years, Yankee Stadium has proven a consistently hostile place for the Orioles to visit, as the Bronx was a destination where their rebuilding team was often overpowered and outmatched. Since the start of 2019, Baltimore was 9-30 against the Yankees and 3-13 at Yankee Stadium entering Monday’s series opener, dropping 12 straight in the Bronx at one point.

Then on Monday, the Orioles did something they hadn't done in the stadium in recent memory: the Birds brought out the boos in the home crowd. In the process, they also spoiled the home debuts of Joey Gallo, Anthony Rizzo and -- especially -- Andrew Heaney with their 7-1 win over the Yankees.

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“For me, that was our most complete game of the year, in all phases,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “It felt different because we got a big-time start and we scored some runs early. We have a tough time scoring runs here usually. This is a major payroll team with superstars and guys who make a ton of dough, for a reason. So it’s a tough place to play.”

It came courtesy of a team effort. The Orioles used four solo homers and some situational hitting to back Jorge López, who tightroped through six erratic but effective innings of one-hit ball en route to his first victory since June 6.

López walked five and hit a batter, but he also took a no-hitter into the sixth before Gallo’s leadoff double, limiting the damage despite traffic in the first, fifth and sixth. He was aided defensively by Austin Hays’ leaping catch in the left-field corner in the fifth, and Cedric Mullins, Hays, Ryan Mountcastle, Ramón Urías each hit a solo homer, all in the first four innings off Heaney.

The four homers were the Orioles’ most against the Yankees since April 6, 2018, and their most in a nine-inning game at Yankee Stadium since Sept. 25, 2014. Per STATS, Baltimore became the first team to come to Yankee Stadium at least 30 games under .500 and have more home runs than New York had hits (3). The win was Baltimore’s 10th in its past 15 games.

“I thought we played super scrappy tonight,” Hyde said. “We walked too many, but we had really good pitching, ran the bases extremely well, played really solid defense with some really nice plays, and we hit the ball out of the ballpark a few times.”

That made things more or less simple for the Orioles’ bullpen; the most adversity it faced all night might have been the several-minute delay in the bottom of the eighth, brought on by a loose cat in left field. It took seven staffers to corral the cat off the field of play, but not before it ran the length of the left-field warning track twice over and thrice tried to leap into Baltimore’s bullpen. Mullins revealed later that it wasn’t the first time they’d met.

“We saw him in the dugout earlier in the game, just chilling there, so we let him be,” Mullins said. “Next thing I know, I heard all the fans cheering. I didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t see the cat until he was out at the outfield wall. Then I was seeing seven grown men get their ankles broken by a cat. It was pretty funny to watch.”

Said Hyde: “The cat showed good quickness, agility and vertical, a few times.”

The innings prior were something of a showcase for Mullins, who continued his ascent on the American League hits title and to validate his decision to abandon switch-hitting this spring. Both Mullins’ third-inning homer and fifth-inning single came off left-handed pitching; he ranks first among AL hitters in left-on-left hitting (.328) and hits (45), second in on-base percentage, third in slugging percentage and tied for sixth in homers (6). Mullins also stole two bases, joining Fernando Tatis Jr. and Trea Turner as the only big leaguers with at least 18 home runs and 20 steals.

“He’s just doing everything,” Hyde said. “He makes catches look easy, makes playing center field look too easy at times. He steals second, he steals third. He’s just doing everything.”