Before the Orioles’ game Wednesday night, manager Brandon Hyde spoke about the offense’s inconsistency so far this season, a main cause of the ballclub’s 6-10 start.

“Our offense is better than what we’ve shown so far,” Hyde said.

For that to rebound against the Cleveland Guardians, the Orioles will have to do so without one of their best hitters.

Outfielder Tyler O’Neill was scratched from the lineup about two hours before first pitch because of neck discomfort, the team said.

O’Neill, who is hitting .265 with an .829 OPS this season, was slated to bat fifth and start in right field against Guardians right-hander Gavin Williams. Ramón Laureano is replacing O’Neill in the outfield and playing left field, while Heston Kjerstad is shifting over from left to right.

O’Neill has a lengthy injury history, but this is his first ailment in Baltimore after signing a three-year contract worth $49.5 million with the Orioles this offseason.

Since debuting in the big leagues in 2018, O’Neill has been placed on the injured list 14 times, an average of twice per season. Last year with the Boston Red Sox, O’Neill landed on the IL three times. He’s injured 11 body parts in his career, but he’s never had a neck injury.

O’Neill’s injury history was certainly a reason he was only able to earn a deal worth only $16.5 million per year, especially after a season in which he was one of baseball’s best power hitters. The Orioles were expected to be able to withstand O’Neill’s frequent ailments, though, with one of MLB’s deepest rosters.

However, the injury bug has already hit Baltimore hard this season. Outfielder Colton Cowser will be out for at least six more weeks recovering from a fractured thumb injury that he suffered during the fourth game of the season.

“Is it a factor in our slow record to start the year? Yes,” Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias said during his first news conference of the season Tuesday. “Is it an excuse or a totality of the reason? No. There are other teams going through it, too, so it’s just something that we continue to deal with and we try to amass the most depth that we can.”

The Orioles’ offense has enjoyed plenty of boom performances, including the six-homer outburst on opening day, but they’ve yet to stack multiple of them in a row. Over their past seven games, the Orioles are scoring only 3.3 runs per game. Tuesday’s 6-3 loss was one of the worst outings of the year as the lineup was no-hit through four innings by lefty Logan Allen, who was one of the majors’ worst starting pitchers last season.

“We’ve shown signs, certain innings of being able to put together a really good team offense, but we have not put it together consistently, obviously,” Hyde said. “We have confidence in our guys that we’re going to come out of this. It’s just going to take a lot of work.”

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