Betts leaves with knee contusion; considered day-to-day

CLEVELAND – As if the 13-6 shelling suffered by the Red Sox at the hands of the Cleveland Indians wasn’t bad enough, the Red Sox also saw Mookie Betts have to leave the game in the seventh inning at Progressive Field with a contusion to his right knee.

Betts, who battled knee woes last season and underwent a procedure in the off-season, banged the knee against the right field wall in the sixth, chasing after Yandy Diaz’s triple. An inning later, as Betts leaped to try to snare a double by Jose Ramirez, he came down on the same sore spot.

Betts then summoned a trainer, who was accompanied by John Farrell, and he exited the game. The Sox then moved Brock Holt from left to right field, and inserted newly-acquired Rajai Davis into left.

“Initially, I kind of hit (the knee) on the wall (on the Diaz ball in the sixth), but I was fine and kind of played through it,’’ said Betts. “Then when I jumped on the ball going back, I came down and landed on the same spot and that’s when it got pretty tender.

“There was no twist, it was more impact. It started to swell a little bit, got kind of tight. So we’ll see how everything goes.’’
Betts said he wasn’t worried that could aggravate the issue he had a year ago, which required the surgical attention in the winter.

“No, I think it was just the impact on the same spot twice,’’ said Betts. “Obviously, it’s not going to feel good since I did it twice today. I think it kind of swelled up. It will be alright.’’

Betts couldn’t predict whether he’d be able to return to the lineup Friday night when the Sox return home for a weekend series against Baltimore.

“I’ll come in (Friday) and see,’’ said Betts. “I’m not going to say I can’t play tomorrow and I not going to say I can. I’ll just come in and see and hopefully, I’ll be ready to go.’’