Before the game, Orioles fans at Camden Yards reveled in nostalgia. During it, they need not rely on the past for positive feelings.

After commemorating the 1983 team that won the franchise’s last World Series, rookie Gunnar Henderson, veteran Kyle Gibson and the rest of the 2023 Orioles continued playing like a club that could also compete for one.

Henderson hit a two-run homer in the first, Gibson pitched seven innings of three-run ball for his fourth straight quality start and the Orioles defeated the New York Mets, 7-3, in front of a sellout crowd.

Anthony Santander also homered, and Ryan O’Hearn, Ramón Urías and Adley Rutschman delivered RBI hits to provide the rest of Baltimore’s offense. Relievers Danny Coulombe and Yennier Cano followed Gibson with scoreless innings to slam the door.

With 12 hits Saturday, the Orioles have tallied 10 or more knocks in five of their past seven games. They’re 82-for-248 at the plate — good for a .331 batting average — during that stretch and have averaged 7.14 runs per game.

The 44,326 fans — a mix of old-timers there early for the pregame festivities, younger fans who weren’t alive to watch that 1983 club and the typical New York fans behind the third base dugout — marked Oriole Park’s third sellout this season. The last time that many fans attended a non-home opener at Camden Yards was May 20, 2017, against the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Orioles are 15-7 since the All-Star break and have won six of their past seven. With the Tampa Bay Rays’ loss to the Detroit Tigers on Saturday, Baltimore (69-42) owns a three-game lead atop the American League East standings.

This story will be updated.

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