Padres Lose Key Infielder To Devastating Injury

The San Diego Padres have gotten some big contributions this year from infielder Luis Rengifo, but last night he sustained what appeared to be a serious knee injury in the Padres’ 7-6 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, with manager Craig Stammen describing hte injury as a sprained right knee in a report from Joey Johnston of MLB.com. 

The injury happened on a wild play in the sixth inning of yesterday’s game when Rengifo became the cutoff man on a single to center field by Yandy Diaz, and the infielder wound up chasing base runner Cedric Mullins in a rundown between second and third. 

But Taylor Walls tried to score ahead of Mullins during the rundown, so Rengifo had to pivot suddenly to throw home. The infielder’s knee buckled as he threw, and the errant effort allowed two more runs to score. 

What happened to Rengifo was far more concerning, however. He stayed down for about five minutes, and after that Rengifo had to be carted off the field. 

“Obviously, it doesn’t look good,” Stammen said. “Non-contact injury. We’ve got to take care of him and further evaluate it. Losing Luis right in the middle of the game, that situation is tough for all of us to handle.”

Watching the way Rengifo’s knee buckled was tough to take, as first baseman Ty France noted. 

“Your first thought is, you know, 'Is he all right?'” first baseman Ty France said. “Obviously, it’s a freak accident. You hope he’s all right. But you just have to keep going. There’s nothing else you can do. There’s still baseball left to play and it’s not easy.”

“We’re not thinking about the game,’’ said shortstop Jake Cronenworth, who moved to second base after Rengifo left the game. “We’re focusing on our guy [Rengifo]."

The injury probably affected the Padres well after the play, as the momentum they built by taking a 6-3 lead quickly dissipated with the game tied. It’s a lot to process in the moment, and the Padres offense flatlined from there. 

“I think the toughest thing is the emotional part about it,” Stammen said. “When you lose a guy who has meant so much to our team lately, when we’ve been playing well, he has been in the mix of a lot of the good things that have happened offensively.

“You feel for a teammate. You feel for a brother. He’s a part of the family. We got him late, but he has been a big part of the family. I know the guys love him in [our clubhouse]. He has been a big energy piece for us. We’re going to miss it, and we’re going to have to replace him somehow.”