Padres find ways to win amid key injuries

SAN DIEGO -- The Padres 3-3 road trip to Chicago and Sacramento was a rather costly one, resulting in Jackson Merrill being placed on the injured list with a right hamstring strain, Fernando Tatís missing a game with right shoulder discomfort and Jake Cronenworth exiting with a rib injury.

Though the Padres received good news on one of their stars, with Tatís returning to the lineup on Friday versus the Colorado Rockies, Cronenworth was placed on the 10-day injured list with a non-displaced right rib fracture. Cronenworth was hit by a pitch in the first inning in Sunday’s game at Wrigley field, but played the entire game. Even more incredibly, he homered the very next day, broken ribs and all, in the Padres 5-4 win over the Sacramento A’s. 

 “It’s frustrating, you know, but happens,” said Croneworth on Friday afternoon. “It didn’t feel great Sunday when it happened, even Monday, but then I just think water over the boat and on Tuesday it kind of just tipped the iceberg. I thought I could play through it, I thought it was just a bruise and you know, happened to be something else.”

Cronenworth was asked whether his toughness came from his hockey background and mentality. 

“It’s just kind of always who I’ve been. I’ve been hit a lot and some are worse than others but you always try to find a way to get through it and this one unfortunately took the wrong way.” 

Cronenworth was hitting .257 with two home runs, five RBI and an OPS of .895. Infielder Tyler Wade was called up from El Paso. 

 For at least one night versus the Colorado Rockies, the absence of Merrill and Cronenworth did not hamper the Padres offense. 

Jose Iglesias, subbing for the injured Cronenworth at second base went 2-for-4 with two RBI, Elías Díaz drove in two runs and Gavin Sheets and Tatís each homered in the Padres 8–0 win over Colorado. 

Manny Machado says it’s going to take similar contributions from the entire roster to make up for the loss of part of the Padres core. 

“Obviously it sucks these injuries that come up but it’s part of the game,” said Machado. “It just means other guys have got to step up. Just continue to do what we’ve been doing. I think out of spring training, we obviously emphasized the guys that were there that weren’t making the team out of camp, that were going to be a big part of this team. Just knowing that injuries happen, things happen throughout the year, they’re going to be key parts. We already saw Oscar (Gonalez) come up here and he had some big hits for us. We’re going to continue to see that as a team.” 

The timeline for Cronenworth’s return remains unclear and manager Mike Shildt wasn’t about to guess an approximate window. 

“Medical will take the lead on it, but Jake will have a say in it as well,” Shildt said. “Fortunately it wasn’t displaced. So you know, it’s a matter of getting some of the fluids and the healing to take place and then it’s a matter of his functionality. And then hopefully, it doesn’t take too long. It’s unlike a pitcher where he has to get ramped up as much. We can get some at-bats and get him back on the field.” 

Shildt expressed similar optimism for his All-Star center fielder. “I think any time you’re looking at hamstrings, you’re looking at, you know, at least 10 days,” said Shildt. “Guys heal differently, the good news is they don’t think it was a high grade strain but it’s clearly there. So it’s really going to matter how soon he gets to the point where he can jog and run again with how quickly he gets to play, so it’s hard to say.”

Notable

Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill will receive their NL Silver Slugger awards in a pregame ceremony. Shildt says Machado came up with the idea of having the Padres hitting coaches, Victor Rodriguez, Mike McCoy and Pat O'Sullivan, present them with the award...Padres have won 12 straight games at home dating back to last season, tying a franchise record set in 2021...