O’Neill homers for 5th straight Opening Day as Red Sox top Mariners

SEATTLE — Tyler O’Neill set some unlikely baseball historical past on opening day within the stadium he visited virtually yearly as a child rising up in British Columbia. And it got here towards the workforce that drafted him greater than a decade in the past.

“Baseball is a funny game,” O’Neill stated. “It brings everything home like that.”

O’Neill homered in his fifth straight opening day sport to set a serious league document and helped the Boston Red Sox beat the Seattle Mariners 6-4 on Thursday night time.

Rafael Devers homered and doubled off Seattle ace Luis Castillo, however it was O’Neill’s homer on the primary pitch from Cody Bolton within the eighth inning that gave the Red Sox a 6-4 lead and made historical past.

O’Neill homered the earlier 4 opening days with St. Louis, tying him with Todd Hundley (1994-97), Gary Carter (1977-80) and Yogi Berra (1955-58). He was a prime prospect within the Mariners group earlier than being traded to St. Louis in 2017.

And it got here in entrance of a big contingent of household and buddies from British Columbia who made the journey right down to see O’Neill’s first sport in a Red Sox uniform.

“You always want to kick the season off with a bang,” O’Neill stated. “Fortunately, I’ve been able to do it a couple times in row now. Just having a lot of fun out there.”

The homers and a few stable pitching helped Boston supervisor Alex Cora take pleasure in his first opening day win as a supervisor.

Devers hit an opposite-field two-run homer on an elevated fastball from Castillo within the third inning and his one-out double within the fifth helped result in one other run for Boston. Connor Wong added a two-out RBI single within the sixth on a pitch effectively off the plate.

“He was able to drive the ball to left-centre, something that he wasn’t able to do last year,” Cora stated of Devers. “That homer was impressive.”

Boston starter Brayan Bello (1-0) pitched 5 innings and restricted the injury to Mitch Haniger’s two-run homer after he spent final season with San Francisco. Kenley Jansen pitched the ninth for the save after recording 29 final season for Boston.

Dylan Moore’s pinch-hit, two run homer within the seventh inning pulled Seattle inside 5-4, however that’s as shut as Seattle would get. Two of Seattle’s huge offseason additions, Jorge Polanco and Mitch Garver, each skilled a number of the frustration that comes with enjoying at house early within the season. Each hit deep fly balls that possible would have been homers of their former parks, however as a substitute turned outs.

“They got some hits with two outs, RBI hits, and those are huge. They’re difference makers,” Seattle supervisor Scott Servais stated. “Not the way we wanted to start. We have a lot of games to go. We have a good team.”

Castillo (0-1) laboured by 5 innings as his management acquired away from him at instances, lacking with a lot of borderline pitches. Castillo, who wanted 91 pitches to get by the fifth, gave up 4 runs and 6 hits.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Red Sox: RHP Liam Hendriks was positioned on the 60-day IL as he continues restoration from Tommy John surgical procedure. … LHP Chris Murphy was additionally performed on the 60-day IL with a UCL sprain. … RHP Bryan Mata (hamstring) was positioned on the 15-day IL. … IF Vaughn Grissom (hamstring) and OF Rob Refsnyder (toe) have been positioned on the 10-day IL.

Mariners: IF/OF Sam Haggerty (undisclosed medical process) was positioned on the 10-day injured listing to start the season. … RHPs Matt Brash (elbow pressure), Bryan Woo (elbow irritation), Gregory Santos (lat pressure) and Eduardo Bazardo (rotator cuff pressure) have been positioned on the 15-day IL. … Veteran IF Brian Anderson was launched, however agreed to a minor-league contract and was assigned to Triple-A Tacoma.

UP NEXT

A pair of right-handers will face off as Nick Pivetta begins for Boston whereas George Kirby takes the hill for Seattle.