Tyler O'Neill's 30th blast stuns Orioles in 10th inning walk-off win
The Red Sox are trying to stay alive in the hunt for the final American League wild card spot, and thanks to slugger Tyler O’Neill on Wednesday night, Boston remains in the mix.
Boston headed into the bottom of the 10th inning trailing the Orioles 3-2. With two outs in the inning and the Twins defeating the Angels 6-4, a loss would drop the Sox to five games behind for the final spot.
O’Neill crushed a 1-1 slider from O’s lefty Keegan Akin for a three-run walkout homer, sending Fenway Park into a frenzy.
“It was huge,” said manager Alex Cora after the Sox’ 5-3 10-inning victory that secured a series win over the Orioles. “We’ve been pitching, which is awesome, you know. Hopefully, at one point, we start hitting again.”
O’Neill hit his team leading 30th home run; reaching that feat for the second time in his career, he hit 34 dingers in 2021. His late-inning heroics was his fifth career walk-off RBI, his second this season, and his second career walk-off homer. The outfielder has hit five homers in his last five games.
“I’m really proud of all the work that I’ve done this year,” said O’Neill, who has five career walk-offs, including two this season. “Just making sure that physically, I’m in a really good spot to be able to go out and produce on a day-to-day basis. I’m seeing the results of that for sure.”
With a few weeks left in the regular season, the 29-year-old will become a free agent in the offseason. Boston has a mix of good young outfielders, and O’Neill isn’t a lock to return. The door isn’t necessarily closed on his return, and his ability to generate right-handed power is attractive to the Red Sox.
“I’ve really enjoyed my time in Boston,” O’Neill said in an interview with MassLive on Tuesday. “To be able to play in this ballpark and call it home, I think I fit in really well here. Hopefully, something happens. But we’ll see. It’s my first time going into this process, so I don’t know what to expect.”
O’Neill has liked his time with the Red Sox, and he could cash in this winter based off his strong season at the plate.
O’Neill’s contract status will sort itself out in the winter, and until then, the Red Sox need him to mash and help continue to close the gap in their quest for the final wild-card spot.
Nick Pivetta tossed his 10th quality start of the season; it was his third consecutive this season.
The right-hander was excellent in this start against the Orioles, hurling six innings, giving up one run off four hits while walking one and striking out nine batters.
“Good fastball, good breaking ball,” said Red Sox skipper Alex Cora. “He’s been throwing the ball well. Just the command of the fastball on top of the zone has been huge for [the horizontal attack] we’ve been talking about.”
Pivetta ran into trouble in the third inning when he left a sweeper down the middle and the Orioles' Emmanuel Rivera deposited the ball into the Green Monster seats.
The righty retired 18 of 23 batters he faced and stranded four runners.
Pivetta has no recorded back-to-back starts where he’s allowed a run or less, which was the eighth time he’s done that this season. In addition, he’s allowed three earned runs or less in six of his last seven outings. He struck out nine batters or more eight times this season, which is tied for third most in the big leagues with the Cardinals' Sonny Gray and trails Dodgers righty Tyler Glasnow (10) and former Red Sox ace Chris Sale (13).
Following the game, Cora took the time to praise the 31-year-old’s overall body of work as a starter.
“He’s strong. He can carry the workload. He wants more,” said Cora. “The stuff keeps getting better throughout the year. He makes adjustments throughout. He’s very thoughtful about it. He knows his mechanics, and he knows how to use his stuff.”
Pivetta’s next start is expected to come against the Rays next week, and he’ll pitch in a key series against the Twins at Fenway Park.
“He loves to compete,” said Cora. “He’ll be ready for the next one.”
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