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Canada’s Tyler O’Neill extends opening-day home run record with blast against Blue Jays
Tyler O’Neill extended his MLB record with a home run on his sixth straight Opening Day with a three-run shot in the third inning of Thursday’s contest against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Burnaby, B.C.’s Tyler O’Neill knows a thing or two about ringing in a new season right.
The Baltimore Orioles outfielder extended his MLB record with a home run on his sixth straight Opening Day with a three-run shot in the third inning of Thursday’s contest against the Toronto Blue Jays.
O’Neill worked a 2-1 count off Toronto starter Jose Berrios before driving a 94.6-m.p.h. sinker the opposite way for a 376-foot blast.
The 29-year-old joined the Orioles this off-season on a three-year $49.5 million contract after leading the Red Sox with 31 homers in his lone season in Boston.
He broke a tie with Todd Hundley (1994-97), Gary Carter (1977-80) and Yogi Berra (1955-58) for most consecutive Opening Day games with a long ball last season against the Seattle Mariners.
“You always want to kick the season off with a bang,” O’Neill said following the record-snapping homer. “Fortunately, I’ve been able to do it a couple times in a row now. Just having a lot of fun out there.”
This is O’Neill’s eighth big-league season. The five-foot-10 Canadian was originally drafted by Seattle in 2013 and broke into the majors with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2018.
He entered the year with 109 career homers, two Gold Gloves and 30th all-time among Canadian-born MLBers in bWAR.
