TORONTO (AP) — Baltimore Orioles outfielder Tyler O’Neill hit a three-run home run off Toronto's José Berríos in the third inning of Thursday’s game at Toronto, extending his major league record by homering for a sixth straight opening day.
Playing a season-opening game in his home country of Canada for the first time, O’Neill connected on a two-out, 2-1 sinker, driving in Colton Cowser and Adley Rutschman and putting Baltimore up 4-0.
“When he hit it, I think everyone was just going crazy because that’s just such an amazing feat,” Rutschman said. “It was just so cool to see.”
O’Neill went 3 for 3 with two walks and scored three runs. He said it was meaningful to have a strong performance with several of his family in the crowd.
“Very special,” he said. “I’ve had a great day so far. Playing in Toronto is always special for me.”
Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde called O'Neill's opening day streak “mind-boggling," adding that he has quickly learned to appreciate everything his new outfielder brings to the clubhouse.
“Awesome personality,” Hyde said of O'Neill. “I love how hard-nosed he is. He’s a team guy.”
O’Neill’s opening day home run streak began with St. Louis in 2020 and continued for four seasons, matching a mark held by Todd Hundley (1994-97), Gary Carter (1977-80) and Yogi Berra (1955-58).
O’Neill took sole possession of the mark when he connected in his lone opening day with Boston in 2024.
O’Neill arrived at the stadium Thursday carrying two boxes of donuts from the popular Canadian chain Tim Hortons to share with his Baltimore teammates. He did the same thing when visiting Toronto with the Red Sox last season.
Hyde said he'd have no problem with O'Neill repeating the donut delivery on Friday.
“Whatever works,” Hyde said. “Wear the same clothes. Whatever he did today, do it tomorrow.”
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Baltimore Orioles outfielder Tyler O'Neill (9) scores against the Toronto Blue Jays during the second inning of an opening-day baseball game against in Toronto, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Chief Justice John Roberts agreed Monday to pause a midnight deadline for the Trump administration to return a Maryland man mistakenly deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador.
The temporary order comes hours after a Justice Department emergency appeal to the Supreme Court arguing U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis overstepped her authority when she ordered Kilmar Abrego Garcia returned to the United States.
The administration has conceded that Abrego Garcia should not have been sent to El Salvador because an immigration judge found he likely would face persecution by local gangs.
But he is no longer in U.S. custody and the government has no way to get him back, the administration argued.
Xinis gave the administration until just before midnight to “facilitate and effectuate” Abrego Garcia’s return.
“The district court’s injunction—which requires Abrego Garcia’s release from the custody of a foreign sovereign and return to the United States by midnight on Monday—is patently unlawful,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in court papers, casting the order as one in “a deluge of unlawful injunctions” judges have issued to slow President Donald Trump's agenda.
The Justice Department appeal was directed to Roberts because he handles appeals from Maryland.
The Trump administration is separately asking the Supreme Court to allow Trump to resume deportations of Venezuelan migrants accused of being gang members to the same Salvadoran prison under an 18th century wartime law.
The federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, denied the administration's request for a stay. “There is no question that the government screwed up here,” Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson wrote in a brief opinion accompanying the unanimous denial.
The White House has described Abrego Garcia’s deportation as an “administrative error” but has also cast him an MS-13 gang member. Attorneys for Abrego Garcia said there is no evidence he was in MS-13.
“The Executive branch may not seize individuals from the streets, deposit them in foreign prisons in violation of court orders, and then invoke the separation of powers to insulate its unlawful actions from judicial scrutiny,” Abrego Garcia’s lawyers wrote in a response filed moments after Roberts issued his temporary pause.
Xinis wrote that the decision to arrest him and send him to El Salvador appears to be “wholly lawless,” explaining that little to no evidence supports a “vague, uncorroborated” allegation that Abrego Garcia was once an MS-13 member.
Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old Salvadoran national who has never been charged or convicted of any crime, was detained by immigration agents and deported last month.
He had a permit from DHS to legally work in the U.S. and was a sheet metal apprentice pursuing a journeyman license, his attorney said. His wife is a U.S. citizen.
In 2019, an immigration judge barred the U.S. from deporting Abrego Garcia to El Salvador.
A Justice Department lawyer conceded in a court hearing that Abrego Garcia should not have been deported. Attorney General Pam Bondi later removed the lawyer, Erez Reuveni, from the case and placed him on leave.
Prisoners look out from their cell at the Terrorist Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador, Friday, April 4, 2025, during a tour by the Costa Rica Justice and Peace minister. (AP Photo/Salvador Melendez)
FILE - Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia of Maryland, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, speaks during a news conference at CASA's Multicultural Center in Hyattsville, Md., April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, file)
President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn as he arrives at the White House on Marine One, Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia of Maryland, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, speaks during a news conference at CASA's Multicultural Center in Hyattsville, Md., Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
