Red Sox’s Tyler O’Neill exits early vs. Guardians after injury scare

Rafael Devers ended up making the catch to end the inning, and both he and Tyler O’Neill were on the ground after the play was made. It was a scary sight for Red Sox fans. Devers stayed in, but O’Neill left the game. The Guardians went on to win the game 6-0 over the Red Sox, scoring two runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings.

It will be worth monitoring reports on both O’Neill and Devers after the game and ahead of Tuesday’s game as the series continues.

Tyler O’Neill has been one of the Red Sox’s best players in the early going this season, hitting .313 with a .459 on-base percentage and a 1.209 OPS, according to MLB.com. He was a key addition coming over from the St. Louis Cardinals, and was seemingly on a path towards a bounce back season with the Red Sox. That could still happen, but the Red Sox certainly hope this is a short absence.

Devers is the most important player in the Red Sox’s lineup, as he is inked to a massive contract extension. He has not quite hit his stride yet on offense, as he is hitting .190 with a .320 on-base percentage with two home runs on the year, according to MLB.com.

Red Sox early season results and outlook

The Red Sox got off to a bit of a hot start to the season. They started the year out west, splitting four games with the Seattle Mariners, then going to Oakland to sweep the Athletics in three games. Then they won two games in a three-game series with the Los Angeles Angels. They returned home and were swept by the Baltimore Orioles in the first home series of the season, then won two out of three again against the Angels. That brings us to Monday’s loss to the Guardians, which dropped Boston to 9-8 on the year.

The Red Sox caught some flack this offseason for their lack of spending. They are not off to a bad start by any means, and they could still surprise this season, but it remains to be seen how they will perform against better teams. They succeeded against teams like the Athletics and Angels, who are not expected to contend, then lost to the Orioles and got off on the wrong foot against what looks like a good Guardians team.

It will be worth monitoring the injuries for the Red Sox over the next few days, as well as the performance for the rest of the month as the team faces some solid competition.