The Boston Red Sox topped the Seattle Mariners in their Opening Day game, and right fielder Tyler O'Neill made a little history in the process.
O'Neill blasted a solo homer in the eighth inning — his fifth straight Opening Day home run — and the Red Sox walked away with the 6-4 win over the Mariners.
O’Neill, who the Red Sox acquired from the Cardinals in the offseason, set a major league record with his fifth consecutive Opening Day home run, per MLB writer Ryan Spaeder:
“Red Sox Tyler O'Neill is the first player in MLB history to homer on #OpeningDay in five straight seasons.”
He passed Todd Hundley (1994-97), Gary Carter (1977-80) and Yogi Berra (1955-58) who all went four consecutive seasons with an Opening Day home run.
O’Neill's eighth inning bomb to right-center field, put the Red Sox ahead 6-4.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora had a hunch about Tyler O'Neill
Red Sox manager Alex Cora had been winless on Opening Day in his career, going 0-5 up until Thursday.
With right-handed ace Luis Castillo taking the mound for the Mariners, one would think that Cora would try to pack the lineup with as many lefties as possible. However, that's not the case this time. Cora elected to start right-handed outfielder Tyler O'Neill over the southpaw Wilyer Abreu, and his reasoning made sense.
“I've got a five-game losing streak on Opening Day and he (O'Neill) has a four-game home run streak going into Opening Day. Analytics,” Cora said.
O'Neill had actually homered off of Castillo before. The veteran was 7-of-32 (.219 batting average) with two home runs and four RBIs across 35 plate appearances against the star hurler coming into the contest. While he didn't homer against Castillo, O'Neill still made Cora end up looking like a genius for the move.
“Honestly, the at-bats have been really good throughout,” Cora said about O'Neill. “We have to not only manage the first six innings, but we have to manage their two lefties (in the bullpen) and I think there’s an opportunity for him to face a lefty. Defensively, he’s really good. We’ll give him a chance to play against (Castillo). We know the numbers. We know that Castillo is really good against righties and he’s ‘struggled’ against lefties. But he’s good against anybody.”
Red Sox season outlook
After the team's ownership claimed they would be going “full-throttle” this offseason in an effort to upgrade their team, they ended up doing nothing of the sort, and the team now has an objectively worse roster on their hands than they did at the end of the 2023 campaign. After how big of a mess last year was, it's tough to see how 2024 can be better.
The Red Sox finished last in the American League East in 2023 behind their poor pitching staff.
The makeup of the Red Sox roster in 2024 looks eerily similar. They have a solid lineup and bullpen, but their starting rotation looks likely to be one of the worst in the league. And making things even worse, the lineup and bullpen appear to be in worse condition than they were last season.
Boston's path to winning remains similar to what it was last year; their lineup needs to mash. Rafael Devers is one of the top hitters in baseball, and he should get some support from Trevor Story, Triston Casas, Masataka Yoshida, and Jarren Duran throughout the year. If Ceddanne Rafaela can also turn into a consistent source of offense, this lineup could be solid.
The Red Sox and Mariners are back at it on Friday night from T-Mobile Park.
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