The Boston Red Sox defeated the Texas Rangers 6-1 on Sunday at Globe Life Park, but it wasn’t all good feelings for Major League Baseball’s best team.
During the first inning, Rangers first baseman Ronald Guzman fielded a ground ball from Andrew Benintendi and fired a throw toward second base to try and get lead runner Mookie Betts. The ball tailed, though, and hit Betts in the shoulder, causing the star outfielder to crumple in pain once he reached the base.
Betts remained in the game for an inning before being removed for Blake Swihart in the bottom of the second.
After the game, manager Alex Cora gave an update on Betts’ status, noting the star has a right shoulder contusion.
“He’s OK,” Cora said, as seen on NESN’s postgame coverage. “The ball hit him on the shoulder, he didn’t feel great so I just took him out. It makes sense for us, you know? He has a day and a half off and it should be something day-t0-day, you know, hopefully, ready for Tuesday.”
Betts could be seen shaking and flexing his wrist after the play, and Cora explained how the issue stemmed from taking the ball off the shoulder.
“He’s got like numbness, yeah,” Cora said. “It hit him in the perfect spot, so he wanted to keep going and I’m like, ‘nah.’ He had it throughout the arm, but he got the feeling back. He got some treatment and he was fine afterward.”
Betts has been ripping the cover off the ball to begin the season, so the Sox certainly hope he can come back soon. Boston will have Monday off before they begin a three-game set against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium.
Here are more notes from Red Sox-Rangers:
—Â Chris Sale had everything working Sunday, striking out 12 while allowing one run in seven strong innings. The Red Sox left-hander’s slider was a huge weapon, as he recorded 12 swing-and-misses on 38 sliders Sunday. He tallied 23 swing-and-misses overall and topped out at 99.2 mph.
— Mitch Moreland continues to rake. The Red Sox first baseman drove in a run with an RBI double in the first inning. He went 2-for-4 on the day and now is hitting .347 with seven home runs and 17 RBI in 72 at-bats.
— Rafael Devers has made seven errors in his last 19 games.
— J.D. Martinez hit his eighth home run of the year Sunday. The Red Sox slugger is hitting .411 with four home runs with 12 RBI in his last 14 games.
