Red Sox Off to Great Start
The Red Sox season has officially begun, indicating that spring has truly arrived. The Red Sox started at 3-2 in the young season. The Sox started the season with a series split in Seattle against the Mariners, delivering manager Alex Cora his first opening-day win as a manager. The Red Sox’s victory was their earliest opening-day win since 2017. Tyler O’Neill achieved MLB history by hitting a home run for the fifth consecutive time on Opening Day. Starter Brayan Bello only punched out two M’s batters despite issuing only two walks.
The Sox then lost the next two games before winning the last game of the series to cause a split in the series. The Sox had no answers to George Kirby in a pitching duel in which Nick Pivetta also pitched a good game despite giving up the game-winning run in the sixth inning. Then, Boston was walked off in extra innings the game after, despite Kutter Crawford pitching well. The Sox then got through Seattle easily 5-1 the next night.
The Sox then swept the Oakland Athletics, with Tanner Houck striking out ten batters, then a close win in extra innings, and then a 1-0 win with sloppy fielding. O’Neill, an off-season acquisition from the St. Louis Cardinals, has looked great so far in a Red Sox uniform. Over the last two years, O’Neill hit a combined .229 batting average, .310 on-base percentage, .397 slugging percentage, and .707 on-base plus slugging percentage. He played for a total of168 games, over two injury-riddled seasons. O’Neill did not exactly jump off the page in Spring Training, but he has held his own in the regular season thus far. He even hit two more home runs in an 8-6 win against the Angels.
However, a problem that is looming is the injury to shortstop Trevor Story who dislocated his shoulder in the win against the Los Angeles Angels on Friday night. Trevor Story will be requiring season-ending shoulder surgery. In response, the Sox called up infielder David Hamilton from Triple-A Worcester to take Story’s spot in the lineup.
