Boston Red Sox outfielder Tyler O’Neill established a new Major League Baseball record on Thursday against the Seattle Mariners by homering on his fifth consecutive Opening Day.
O’Neill’s latest Opening Day home run came during the eighth inning against right-hander Cody Bolton and gave Boston a 6-4 edge. Boston would keep its lead to claim its first victory of the 2024 campaign. According to Statcast, the ball left O’Neill’s bat traveling at 104.3 mph and carried some 394 feet. Here’s a look in all its moving picture glory:
O’Neill, 28, is in his first season with the Red Sox following an offseason trade. He’d previously spent his entire big-league career with the St. Louis Cardinals, though he was originally drafted by the Mariners in 2013. In six seasons entering Thursday, he’s slashed .248/.318/.458 (112 OPS+) with 78 home runs, which is good enough for 9.9 Wins Above Replacement, per Baseball Reference.
The Red Sox acquired O’Neill Dec. 8 in exchange for right-handers Victor Santos and Nick Robertson after a disappointing season. He appeared in just 72 games last season because of injury and posted a 94 OPS+, his lowest mark since the COVID-19-shortened 2020 campaign.
Red Sox manager Alex Cora jokingly noted O’Neill’s impressive work on Opening Day as one of the reasons he gave him the nod over Wilyer Abreu: “I got a five-game losing streak on Opening Day, and he has a four-game home-run streak (on Opening Days), so analytics,” Cora told reporters, including the Boston Herald’s Gabrielle Starr.
O’Neill had been tied with three other players who had homered on four consecutive Opening Days: Yogi Berra (1955-58), Gary Carter (1977-80), and Todd Hundley (1994-97), according to J.P. Long of the Red Sox organization.
