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Not satisfied with the three-run homer alone, O’Neill also singled twice and walked twice to finish the day with a 3.000 OPS, putting him barely ahead of Cedric Mullins (2.400) and Adley Rutschman (2.400) for the Orioles team lead. O’Neill has homered every time he’s started on Opening Day.

Edwards delivered a go-ahead two-run double off of Nick Martinez in the third inning that gave the Marlins a 3-1 advantage and opened the flood gates. He came around to score a few batters later on an RBI single off the bat of Jesus Sanchez. The 25-year-old infielder added a two-out RBI single off of Scott Barlow in the sixth inning that made it a 10-1 ballgame. On the season, Edwards is now slashing .292/.360/.339 with zero homers, 22 RBI and 15 stolen bases (in 21 attempts) on the season.

Stowers delivered a sacrifice fly during the Marlins’ seven-run rally in the third inning, increasing their lead to 6-1. He also capped off the scoring in the contest with an RBI single in the ninth inning that plated Agustín Ramírez. The first-time All-Star is now hitting .280/.352/.509 with 16 homers, 48 RBI and three stolen bases in what has been an impressive first half.

The 23-year-old backstop smacked an RBI double off of Nick Martinez during the Marlins’ seven-run uprising in the third inning, then scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Connor Norby. He also led off the ninth inning with a double and scored on an RBI single by Kyle Stowers. With his two-hit attack, Ramírez is now hitting .249/.296/.487 with 14 homers, 40 RBI and one stolen base through his first 66 games at the big league level.

Pérez allowed just two hits on the night and didn’t walk a batter. He served up a first-pitch homer to Matt McLain with one out in the opening inning, then the only other batter to reach base against him came on a two-out double by TJ Friedl in the third inning. The 22-year-old phenom generated 11 swings and misses on 88 pitches on the night — four of those on his sweeper — while posting a solid CSW of 30 percent. He’ll look to keep the good times rolling as he brings a 4.00 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and a 29/11 K/BB ratio (27 innings) into Sunday’s first-half finale against the Orioles in Baltimore.

McLain jumped on a first-pitch slider from Marlins’ right-hander Eury Pérez for a 354-foot (96.4 mph EV) solo shot that gave the Reds an early 1-0 lead. That would be the extent of their scoring in the ballgame until they scratched out another with two outs in the ninth. It was also McLain’s only hit as he finished the evening 1-for-4. On the season, he’s now hitting .203/.291/.336 to go along with 10 homers, 32 RBI and 12 stolen bases.

The 34-year-old right-hander also walked three batters during the unfortunate evening while striking out a pair. After keeping the Marlins off the board for the first two innings, the flood gates opened as the Marlins scored seven times to take a commanding lead. He then returned to work two more scoreless innings before loading the bases with no outs to open the sixth inning. Martinez then gave way to the bullpen and all three inherited runners ultimately scored. He got just three swings and misses on 85 pitches on the night while posting an uninspiring CSW of only 20 percent. He’ll look to finish the first half on a high note when he carries a 4.85 ERA, 1.21 WHIP and a 73/24 K/BB ratio (105 2/3 innings) into Sunday’s battle against the Rockies.

At 86 pitches through eight, Bello was given a chance to go for the shutout, which seemed appropriate. It was a little surprising that he was left in even after giving up a two-run homer and an additional single, but he wound up with the complete game. Technically, it’s the second of his career, though the other saw him throw six innings in a rain-shortened loss in 2022. Bello fanned 10 for the third time in his career, finishing one shy of his career high. His previous high this year was eight, but then, he hadn’t previously faced the Rockies this year. Bello, now 5-3 with a 3.27 ERA, will likely start again Sunday against the Rays, though the Red Sox might have him on a pitch count then since he’s coming off a long outing (107 pitches) and will be on four days’ rest.

Freeland allowed two hits through five scoreless innings before giving up a single, a walk and a bloop RBI single with one out in the sixth. The latter hit probably would have been caught by a better right fielder than Tyler Freeman, and Freeman himself might have caught it if not for his hamstring issue. Freeland exited then, and both inherited runners came around to score against Juan Mejia. Freeland dropped to 1-10 with a 5.44 ERA. He’ll likely start again Sunday against the Reds.

That’s 31 RBI in 28 games for Story. He’s tied for 19th in the majors with 57 overall, which isn’t something anyone would have seen coming a month ago. His homer tonight came off Jake Bird, who had allowed just two in 48 1/3 innings and was almost certainly second in line, behind Hunter Goodman, to serve as the Rockies’ All-Star.

Duran apparently needed this, since Red Sox manager Alex Cora indicated before the game that Masataka Yoshida would DH and Roman Anthony would play left field on Wednesday, leaving open the question of where Duran will play. It’d be truly bizarre to leave Duran out of the lineup against a righty after starting him three out of four days against lefties. Yoshida might emerge as a useful DH, but Duran was one of the AL’s best players last year, and even though he’s slipped some this season, he’s still batting .285/.353/.480 against righties. Wilyer Abreu is the only healthy Red Sox player with a higher OPS versus righties this season.