Fastball

Boston Red Sox' Slugger Made Baseball History in Team Debut

Playing in his first game with his new team, Boston Red Sox' slugger Tyler O'Neill made baseball history by becoming the first player to homer in five consecutive Opening Day games.

Brady Farkas

Sep 2, 2023; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals left fielder Tyler O'Neill (27) hits a
Sep 2, 2023; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals left fielder Tyler O'Neill (27) hits a / Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
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Playing in his first game with the Boston Red Sox, slugging outfielder Tyler O'Neill made some Major League history on Thursday night.

O'Neill went 1-for-3 with a home run, RBI, two runs scored and a stolen base in the team's 6-4 win over the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park.

Per Sarah Langs of MLB.com on social media:

Tyler O’Neill has now homered in 5 straight Opening Day games, the most consecutive seasons with at least 1 Opening Day HR

broke a tie at 4 with:

1994-97 Todd Hundley
1977-80 Gary Carter
1955-58 Yogi Berra

If the Red Sox are going to beat their last-place projections this season, O'Neill will have to be a big part of it. Acquired this offseason, he hit 34 homers for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2021. If he can do that again, the Red Sox' offense becomes infinitely more potent. However, he hit just .231 in 2023 for St. Louis with only nine home runs. Regardless of his power production, he offers solid speed and good defense, having won the Gold Glove Award twice in the National League.

His historic home run could have been made sweeter by the fact that it came against the team that originally developed him. The Mariners traded him to St. Louis for pitcher Marco Gonzales.

In addition to O'Neill's home run, the Red Sox got a two-run shot from Rafael Devers and an RBI single from Connor Wong. Brayan Bello worked five innings on the mound to get the win.

The two teams will play again on Friday night at 9:40 p.m. ET.

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Brady Farkas

BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady.