SEATTLE — Five years ago, the Red Sox arrived in Seattle for a three-city, West Coast road trip to start the season, just months after winning the World Series.
It was a short offseason — for good reason — but the Red Sox were undoubtedly unprepared when the 2019 season began and a 3-8 road trip doomed the team from get-go.
“I’ll tell you what, I feel a lot different than in 2019 here,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said, sitting in the same dugout Thursday afternoon a few hours before a 6-4 win over the Seattle Mariners. “I remember the first question asked (in 2019) and I said, ‘I feel tired.’ This year is the total opposite.”
The Red Sox could not be in a more different spot as the 2024 season commences, coming off consecutive last-place finishes and a comparatively unheralded roster compared to 2019.
And yet, Cora has not been shy about his optimism for this club. He’s pushed hard to get more out of the group and Thursday was a positive first step.
“Spring training was good,” he said. “We did an outstanding job playing baseball and getting better throughout the last month and a half. Today is one game, but I think going to Texas (at the end of camp), playing in a big ballpark and getting away from Fort Myers was good for them. One thing I can tell you, we’re ready.”
It truly is just one game, but for the first time in Cora’s tenure as manager, the Red Sox were victorious on Opening Day. Cora had been 0-5 in season-openers. Something had to give.
Asked before the game, why he chose to start Tyler O’Neill in right field over Wilyer Abreu, Cora quipped, “I’ve got a five-game losing streak on Opening Day and he has a four-game home run streak on Opening Day. So, analytics.”
O’Neill did his part, adding some dramatic flare for the Netflix crew that will be documenting the club all season.
With the Red Sox clinging to a 5-4 lead in the eighth, the 29-year-old slammed a ball to right-center over the wall. It not only gave the Red Sox breathing room, but gave O’Neill a major-league record for homering in five straight openers. O’Neill had been in good company, tied at homering in four straight openers with Gary Carter, Yogi Berra and Todd Hundley.
“It has to be something to do with the pregame ceremony or something,” said O’Neill in search of an explanation. He grew up three hours north of Seattle in Burnaby, British Columbia and had several family members and friends among the sellout crowd of 45,337. “It’s fun,” he added. “You always want to kick the season off with a bang.”
All spring the Red Sox preached unity, but it would only really matter if that carried into the regular season. Thursday’s win won’t mean anything if the rest of the series goes south, but it laid the foundation for what the Red Sox can do against a good team.
Brayan Bello, less than a month removed from signing a six-year, $55 million contract extension, pitched in his first Opening Day and held his own working around traffic to keep Seattle at bay.
At 24, Bello is the youngest Red Sox Opening Day starter since Aaron Sele in 1995. He held the Mariners to two runs on five hits over five innings. He struck out two and didn’t issue a walk. Trevor Story turned a double play in the first that helped Bello escape a jam. The righty wasn’t perfect, but the defense helped him out and the offense gave him room. After getting out of a fifth-inning jam and sitting at 84 pitches, Bello headed back to the dugout and tried to avoid Cora so that he could stay in the game, but the manager won that battle.
“He can be better, we know that,” Cora said. “I think command was off, but he was able to make pitches. For a kid from Samana (Dominican Republic), to be on this stage and go out there and perform, it was awesome. We made a big commitment a few weeks ago. He wanted to pitch in (the Dominican Republic series) and I always envisioned him pitching here, at T-Mobile Park, one of the first two games, and he had the ball tonight and he did enough.”
Rafael Devers, continuing where he left off in spring training, gave Bello an early lead with a two-run homer to center in the third inning. Devers’ 400-foot shot came off the bat at 104.4 mph against one of the league’s best starters in Luis Castillo.
Rafael Devers goes oppo! #OpeningDay pic.twitter.com/bEoJ1xix3j
— MLB (@MLB) March 29, 2024
Devers made an adjustment this spring lowering his hands in order to catch up to higher velocity and has looked as comfortable at the plate as he has in long time.
“I think he understands who he is in this lineup,” Cora said. “He needs to make adjustments because the league is getting better. The four seamers are at 98, the cutters. You want to be on time. And I’m glad that in spring training it worked, he was able to drive the ball to left center, something he didn’t do last year. That homer tonight was impressive.”
It wasn’t just homers, though, as the Red Sox played an aggressive brand of baseball that they showed in spurts last season, but hope to use more consistently this year, particularly with speed from O’Neill, Story, Jarren Duran and Ceddanne Rafaela.
In the fourth, O’Neill reached on a fielder’s choice, advanced to third on a Masataka Yoshida double and scored on a Rafaela fielder’s choice as third baseman Josh Rojas’ throw home hit O’Neill in the helmet.
The following inning, Duran pressured Castillo from first base with his speed. Castillo left one over the plate and Devers crushed it to center for a double. Story walked to load the bases for Triston Casas, who hit into a fielder’s choice, scoring another run. In the fifth, Rafaela turned what appeared to be a double into a triple and Connor Wong sent him home with a single to right.
The Mariners pulled to within 5-4 after Dylan Moore hit a two-run homer off reliever Joely Rodriguez, but O’Neill’s historic homer gave breathing room for Chris Martin and Kenley Jansen in the final two innings. Both relievers were coming off spring training injuries and worked around a runner on base while pitching scoreless frames.
“The guys are moving well, they did a good job the last few weeks (in camp) trying to to get to this point,” Cora said. “And now we have no excuses. Just got to go out there and play good baseball.”
(Top photo of O’Neill after his home run: Lindsey Wasson / Associated Press)
