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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.
— A loss after coming back to take a lead and then losing a lead and then regaining the lead. That hurts.
Any loss inside a month left in the season for a playoff contender. That hurts.
Saturday hurt more than both those things put together. “We lost,” Jake Cronenworth said.
“But I mean, one of our guys got hurt tonight.
So …” A 7-6 defeat to the Rays was as multi-layered in its devastation as any loss could conceivably be because of all that happened, most of all that the Padres played the final two innings after Luis Rengifo was carted off the field with what appeared to be a serious knee injury.
The Padres announced Rengifo’s injury as a right knee sprain. He was scheduled to return to San Diego for evaluation.
“Obviously, doesn’t look good,” manager Craig Stammen said. “Non-contact injury.” The loss, which guaranteed the Padres would end the day no better than tied for the final wild-card spot, came after a dizzying sequence of events in the seventh inning of a game that swung wildly.
The Padres took a 3-2 lead in the top of the sixth inning on Ty France’s two-run homer, lost that lead when Junior Caminero hit a solo homer off Walker Buehler in the bottom o f the sixth and went up 6-3 in the seventh.
Just as quickly as they had reclaimed the lead and given the three-run lead to the back end of their bullpen, they trailed and were without a teammate who had in a short time had ingrained himself in their quest.
Rengifo was batting .291 with a .794 OPS and had numerous big hits in his 38 games with the Padres. “He’s been huge,” Xander Bogaerts said.
“To be where we are right now, he has a lot to do with that for sure.” As happened in a five-run fourth inning in Friday’s 9-4 loss to the Rays, an error played a gigantic role in the Rays’ big seventh inning.
This error hit differently, as it was charged to Rengifo on the fateful play that almost certainly ended his season. Padres reliever Bradgley Rodriguez entered at the start of the seventh with a 12-inning scoreless streak and the Padres up by three.
He walked Richie Palacios before yielding singles to Cedric Mullins and Taylor Walls that loaded the bases. Facing his last batter before he would be pulled, Rodriguez then left a fastball up and over the plate that Yandy Diaz drove to center field.
Jackson Merrill deftly played the ball off the wall and fired it into Rengifo near second bas e.
Mullins had stopped to see if Merrill would catch the ball, and the quick throw to the infield caused Rays third base coach Brady Williams to hold up Mullins at third as Walls continued charging there and had to stop midway. Rengifo ran toward Walls with the ball as Mullins took off for home.
After slowing down and turning slightly toward the plate, Rengifo planted to throw home. As he did, his right knee buckled under him and he fell to the ground.
The ball sailed wide and to the wall behind home plate as Walls ran home to tie the game and Diaz advanced to third on what was ruled a single.
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