KANSAS CITY, Missouri — Tyler O’Neill is on the injured list due to an infection in his left lower leg. O’Neill has missed the last four games due to an upset stomach. O’Neill and manager Alex Cora We weren’t sure if the two were related.
“Honestly, I don’t know,” Cora said before the Royals’ 8-4 win on Wednesday. “(Tyler) said, ‘Alex, I have no idea what happened here.’ When (coach Jon Jochim“When we saw him in Texas, he was in bad shape. His leg was huge the last day. He is being treated and the medical staff is doing everything they can to get it under control. We hope he can be with us in 10 days.”
O’Neill, who has struggled with injuries throughout his career, has appeared in 80 games this year. This is the outfielder’s third stint on the IL.
“It hit me pretty hard in Texas, both being sick and contracting the infection,” O’Neill said.
Did the infection have anything to do with his illness?
“I’ve heard different things,” O’Neill said. “I really don’t know.”
O’Neill was also unsure whether the infection occurred while playing baseball.
“I’ve been feeling better and should be ready when the injury list comes up,” he said.
The Sox remembered Enmanuel Valdez from Triple A Worcester to take O’Neill’s place on the active roster.
“Left-handed bat,” Cora said of why the club recalled Valdéz. “We can mix and match later in the game. He can play second; he played left (on Tuesday for WooSox). I like where we are with our roster.”
In other injury news, the Red Sox will sit out Nick Pivetta after experiencing a loss of velocity in his last start on Sunday. Pivetta’s average fastball velocity was 91.9 mph, which was below his season average of 94.1. The Sox are categorizing it as general fatigue.
Do the Sox consider it a medical issue?
“Not really,” Cora said. “He obviously went through that early in the season. He was on the injured list. He’s a big, strong kid who wants to fight through. Everybody wants to fight through, we appreciate that. But at the same time, we have to take care of the player first, and if we do that, he’ll take care of us. Nothing structural. We think it’s going to pay off to give him a breather here.”
Pivetta was initially placed on the injured list at the beginning of the season due to a strain in his right elbow flexor. Cooper Criswell could be a possible replacement for Pivetta on Saturday.
Paxton Rating After the Curve
Although Baseball Savant pointed out that James Paxton threw a significant number of two-seam fastballs in his start on Monday against the Royals – a pitch he only uses occasionally – the Sox left-hander made it clear Wednesday afternoon that this was not the case.
“Sometimes I’m just sideways on the four-seamer and he has that running motion,” Paxton said. “The hand just comes sideways and I get a sinking motion. I think that’s the reason for some of it.”
Although Paxton didn’t rely heavily on the sinker, the curveball was an important part of his repertoire. Paxton threw it 45.6 percent of the time, a career high. Part of that was due to the matchups. The other component had to do with the evolution of his arsenal. Paxton, 35, no longer has a fastball that goes faster than 90 mph, so he had to rely on his curveball to augment his fastball.
“That’s just the way my stuff is right now,” Paxton said. “I used to have the cutter/slider or whatever you want to call it. That pitch wasn’t really there for me. So it’s kind of gone because I was using it probably 15 to 20 percent of the time, and now it’s zero to one percent. We play with it in the bullpen.”
Casas goes full throttle
Triston Casas (right rib cage strain) hit three balls with an exit velocity of 105 mph or more for Triple A Worcester. There are only seven cases this year of Red Sox players hitting three balls at that speed in a game in the major leagues: Rafael Devers (four times), Jarren Duran (two) and Ceddanne Rafaela. Casas was 2 for 6 with a double and two strikeouts. Vaughn Grissom (hamstring strain) was 1 for 5 with a walk . . . The Red Sox reinstated Chris Martin from the IL. To make room for Martin, Cam Booster was sent to Worcester.
You can reach Julian McWilliams at [email protected]. Follow him @vonJulianMack.
