WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Generally, when Gunnar Henderson realizes he is about to pinch-hit late in a game, he will prepare by heading down the tunnel and into the batting cages. He’ll take hacks for a full inning, even if he’s not guaranteed to appear, and he’ll run on the turf that covers the weight room and cages to loosen his legs.

To come in cold off the bench would be to put himself at a massive disadvantage against any pitcher. But that’s what Henderson did Friday at Sutter Health Park when he entered in the eighth inning against right-hander Tyler Ferguson.

“There’s really nowhere to do it here, is the only downside,” Henderson said of the minor league park at which the Athletics are playing in the interim ahead of a planned move to Las Vegas. The dugouts don’t attach to a tunnel like they do in most, if not all, major league parks. There are no cages easily accessible during a game or room to run.

Henderson still worked a walk. But it was a unique experience, one he hadn’t dealt with since high school or the minor leagues.

“All the guys on the bench got to go to the cage [beyond the outfield fence] in the fifth inning, and then came back at the start of the sixth, and that was about it,” Henderson said. “Didn’t see a pitch for an hour, an hour and a half. Just had to go out there and hang with it.”

That is one of the many quirks with playing Major League Baseball at the minor league home of the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats. All of these players have played in minor league parks before, and they aren’t ones to make excuses for losses by blaming the conditions.

At the same time, the situation as a whole is unfortunate. The Athletics are here because owner John Fisher moved them from the historic (albeit rustic) Oakland Coliseum. He plans to take the team to Las Vegas. But for three years the Athletics will play in Sacramento until a stadium is finished — and that timeline remains a bit uncertain.

Orioles players chose their words carefully when asked about the temporary move of the Athletics from Oakland to Sacramento. Ramón Laureano, who played in Oakland for six seasons, said the “Coliseum meant a lot to me,” but “we’re here in Sacramento, and at the end of the day, I love playing anywhere, at any place.”

Right-hander Zach Eflin, who pitched only once at the Coliseum, said he thinks the amenities at Sutter Health Park are passable.

“At the end of the day, I love playing anywhere, at any place.”

Ramón Laureano, Orioles outfielder

“They did as good as they can with the clubhouse, the weight room and the training room,” Eflin said. “It’s hard to say anything more than that. It’s not Oakland. It’s not like a big league stadium or anything. But it’s a place to play baseball, I guess.”

Eflin is preparing mentally for a trip to George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Florida, this month rather than Tropicana Field. He played for the Tampa Bay Rays and grew a liking for the domed stadium. But Hurricane Milton dealt severe damage to the ballpark and forced the Rays to use the New York Yankees’ spring training home this season.

Between outdoor baseball in Tampa and the midday heat of Sacramento, it’s a test for players who, admittedly, are already used to hot weather. Henderson said the dry heat of Sacramento is easier to handle than the Alabama summer he grew up with. But, after a month of cool weather in Baltimore and elsewhere, the Sacramento 90-and-over temperatures during warmups were a stark difference.

Interim manager Tony Mansolino said the Orioles opted against taking batting practice on the field to limit time in the heat, instead taking it in the indoor batting cages. Eflin said he was “sweating bullets” after being outside for about 30 minutes before Saturday’s game.

“I wasn’t even running hard or anything,” Eflin said. “It’s something we’ll get used to during the summer and everything. We kind of go through it every summer in Atlanta, D.C., Baltimore; it’s hot as crap. Tampa is going to be miserable this year. I guess, if anything, it’ll get us ready for that.”

Right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano, who dealt with a cramp in Toronto during his first start of the season, will pitch an afternoon game in Sunday’s series finale. The daytime high is expected to be 89 degrees. Mansolino said the “medical staff is on it, and our pitching staff is on it.”

“We are very conscious of the heat and how that affects our players, and we’ll adjust accordingly,” he added.

Another oddity of Sutter Health Park is the size of the warning track. Usually, warning tracks at MLB parks are about 15 feet wide. The near uniformity helps outfielders realize how much room they have before they hit the wall when tracking a fly ball.

Sutter Health Park’s warning track is about 23 feet wide, according to SF Gate. It’s unclear whether that played a role in the misplay by left fielder Dylan Carlson in the first inning Saturday. He couldn’t corral a deep, high fly ball that Statcast considered to have a 99% catch probability.

Regardless, the Orioles are rolling with the unusual nature of this. There’s no other option.

“We know how to play here; we know how to play in Tampa,” Eflin said. “We spend a month and a half doing it in spring and we’ve done it all through the minor leagues, so we’re prepared and ready for it. It does stink we can’t play at the Trop. It does stink we can’t play in Oakland. You know, it’s hard to give you anything more than that. We’re going to show up and play baseball as if it is Oakland or as if it is the Trop.”