Red Sox Star Tyler O'Neill Gets Stitches Following Bloody Head Collision with Rafael Devers

Tyler O'Neill needed several stitches after he and Rafael Devers collided in the outfield during the Red Sox's game against the Guardians.

During the game at Fenway Park in Boston on Monday, April 15, outfielder O'Neill, 28, and third baseman Devers, 27, both went for a seventh-inning fly ball in left field when the back of Dever's head smacked into O’Neill’s forehead.

Both players fell to the ground and stayed down for a few moments to collect themselves. When O'Neill finally got up, he was bloody, and coaches rushed to hand him a towel to hold to his wound before they eventually made the call for him to exit the game.

According to MLB.com, O'Neill was placed in concussion protocol when the game ended, leaving his status for the next several games undetermined thus far.

Although Devers was fresh off a shoulder injury, he was not hurt and stayed in the game.

"O'Neill has a big gash here, eight stitches, so we'll see what happens next," Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters after the game. "He's going through concussion protocol. Hopefully, everything's fine. Raffy, same deal, just got hit hard. He says he feels good. Feels good. So we'll wait and see."

"They called it at the same time, probably," Cora added. "In this game, we talk about communication and all that. But with 33,008 people in there, it’s -

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hard. Two guys trying to make plays and they run into each other."

Shortstop Ceddanne Rafaela, who also went after the same fly ball, didn't get close enough to be involved in the collision.

“I didn't really have a view, but I think both called it at the same time," Rafaela, 23, told the MLB.

Cora added that although the moment came as a scare to the team and its fans, O'Neill is — hopefully — doing well.

"Scary, yeah, you said it right," Cora finished. "But when I got there, Raffy was OK, I saw the blood. But hopefully both of them are OK, Raffy for Tuesday and we’ll see about O'Neill."

According to the Associated Press, David Hamilton was put in as shortstop and Rafaela was moved to center.

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Boston eventually lost 6-0 to the Guardians, bringing their record to 8-7 for the season.

This marks the third injured player to be taken out of the game for the Sox this season — pitcher Lucas Giolito suffered a UCL injury during spring training and shortstop Trevor Story was taken out for the rest of the season after he fractured his shoulder earlier this month, per MLB.com.

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