Red Sox’ Tyler O’Neill exits game vs. White Sox with right knee discomfort (2024)

Red Sox

O’Neill had been reinstated from the injured list on Wednesday after recovering from inflammation in his right knee.

By Kaley Brown

June 7, 2024

Two days removed from coming off of the Red Sox’ injured list, Tyler O’Neill suffered another setback.

The outfielder was removed from Friday’s game against the Chicago White Sox in the third inning after experiencing right knee discomfort. O’Neill told reporters postgame that he tweaked his knee after catching a fly ball in the second inning.

“Made a cut out there, getting that route direction, and it kind of tweaked on me there,” he said. “I was feeling pretty good pregame and stuff. Just tweaked it out in the outfield there. Didn’t feel too good, so the boys thought they’d take me out of there. Still don’t think the diagnosis has changed, nothing structural or any worry about that. Just a bit of a flare-up.”

Despite his recent injury struggles, O’Neill sounded fairly optimistic about his chances of staying off of the injured list and instead missing a couple of games.

“Hopefully give it some time, let it calm down a little bit. Really hoping it’s just a couple days here,” he said. “Avoiding the IL is definitely on the table. It’s something we’re gonna be shooting for. I don’t know what the next steps are gonna look like, but just wanna get it cleaned up as soon as possible. It’s not fun playing in pain.

Manager Alex Cora said he noticed O’Neill was limping in the second inning and wanted to keep him in the game to take another at-bat, but decided the issue was serious enough to take him out of the game.

He was also seen massaging his knee in the dugout before exiting.

“I feel like I was really close to getting through it, just based on how I was feeling earlier in the day,” O’Neill said. “So it really sucks, it’s really frustrating for me to kind of feel the way I’m feeling right now. But the boys aren’t too worried about it, so thankful for that. Hopefully it cleans up quick.”

O’Neill had been placed on the injured list with right knee inflammation on May 29, but was quickly reinstated on June 5. The 28-year-old received a cortisone shot in the knee the day after landing on the IL and said he was feeling better after the fact.

The nagging knee issue isn’t the only ailment O’Neill has dealt with in 2024. Less than three weeks into the season, the outfielder suffered a concussion during a freak collision with teammate Rafael Devers after both players attempted to catch a popup.

O’Neill started this year off hot, but has since cooled down considerably, probably due in part to his recent injuries. He’s batting .252 with a .859 OPS and has hit 11 home runs (second-most on the Red Sox) through 43 games this season.

With five other outfielders on its roster (including Bobby Dalbec, who played right field on June 4), Boston has utilized several different combinations at the three positions because of injuries. However, Cora noted that losing O’Neill makes it more difficult to manage the outfield and balance playing time, especially considering Wilyer Abreu is currently on the injured list.

“We’re pushing guys to play out there. You see [Rob Refsnyder] with the effort and all that stuff,” he said. “We know his injury history, right? So we gotta be very careful. Playing short is hard, but let’s see where we’re at tonight and we’ll decide what we do tomorrow.”