By TIM BOOTH AP Sports activities Author
SEATTLE (AP) — 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 in opposition to the staff that drafted him greater than a decade in the past.
“Baseball is a humorous sport,” O’Neill mentioned. “It brings all the things residence like that.”
O’Neill homered in his fifth straight opening day sport to set a significant league file and helped the Boston Purple Sox beat the Seattle Mariners 6-4 on Thursday night time.
Rafael Devers homered and doubled off Seattle ace Luis Castillo, nevertheless it was O’Neill’s homer on the primary pitch from Cody Bolton within the eighth inning that gave the Purple 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 giant contingent of household and pals from British Columbia who made the journey all the way down to see O’Neill’s first sport in a Purple Sox uniform.
“You at all times wish to kick the season off with a bang,” O’Neill mentioned. “Thankfully, I’ve been capable of do it a pair occasions in row now. Simply having quite a lot of enjoyable on the market.”
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 capable of drive the ball to left-center, one thing that he wasn’t capable of do final 12 months,” Cora mentioned of Devers. “That homer was spectacular.”
Boston starter Brayan Bello (1-0) pitched 5 innings and restricted the harm 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 large offseason additions, Jorge Polanco and Mitch Garver, each skilled a few of the frustration that comes with taking part in at residence early within the season. Every hit deep fly balls that possible would have been homers of their former parks, however as an alternative turned outs.
“They obtained some hits with two outs, RBI hits, and people are big. They’re distinction makers,” Seattle supervisor Scott Servais mentioned. “Not the best way we needed to begin. We have now quite a lot of video games to go. We have now staff.”
Castillo (0-1) labored via 5 innings as his management obtained away from him at occasions, lacking with quite a few borderline pitches. Castillo, who wanted 91 pitches to get via the fifth, gave up 4 runs and 6 hits.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Purple 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.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
