O’Neill sets Opening Day home run record

March 29, 2024

By Kevin Glew

Cooperstowners in Canada

On Thursday night, Boston Red Sox outfielder Tyler O’Neill homered in his fifth consecutive Opening Day game to set a new major league record.

The Maple Ridge, B.C. native belted a solo home run in the eighth inning off Seattle Mariners reliever Cody Bolton in the Red Sox 6-4 win at T-Mobile Park to set the record.

As per Sarah Langs, of the MLB Network, O’Neill was previously tied with three other players – Yogi Berra (1955 to 1958), Gary Carter (1977 to 1980) and Todd Hundley (1994 to 1997) – who had homered on four consecutive opening days.

O’Neill set the record in front of large group of family and friends who had made the trek from B.C. to watch him in Seattle.

“You always want to kick the season off with a bang,” O’Neill told reporters after the game. “Fortunately, I’ve been able to do it a couple times in row now.”

Batting fifth and playing right field, O’Neill also walked and scored twice for the Red Sox.

O’Neill’s four previous Opening Day homers came as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals. His first was also a solo shot that came in the third inning off Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander Joe Musgrove on July 24, 2020 – in the pandemic shortened season – in a Cardinals’ 5-4 win at Busch Stadium.

In 2021, he clubbed a two-run shot off Cincinnati Reds right-hander Cam Bedrosian in the fourth inning of a Cardinals’ 11-6 win at the Great American Ball Park on Opening Day.

The following season, he belted a three-run homer off Pirates right-hander JT Brubaker in the second inning to help the Cardinals to a 9-0 victory at Busch Stadium.

And Blue Jays fans might remember O’Neill taking right-hander Alek Manoah deep for a two-run round-tripper in the third inning on Opening Day last season at Busch Stadium. The Blue Jays ultimately won that contest 10-9.

This is O’Neill’s seventh major league season. The 28-year-old slugger has joined the Sox after enduring two injury-riddled campaigns with the Cardinals. In 2023, O’Neill batted .231 with nine home runs and 21 RBIs in 72 games.

A third-round pick of the Mariners in 2013, O’Neill played parts of five seasons in the M’s organization before being traded to the Cardinals for left-hander Marco Gonzalez on July 21, 2017.

The Junior National Team and Langley Blaze alum made his major league debut with the Cardinals in 2018. His finest campaign came in 2021 when he batted .286 with 34 home runs and had a .912 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) and captured his second consecutive National League Gold Glove Award in left field.