The San Diego Padres will be playing without one of their best players in the immediate future, and maybe two other starters.
The Padres placed Jackson Merrill on the 10-day injured list due to a right hamstring injury.
Before Tuesday night’s game against the A’s in Sacramento, Padres manager Mike Shildt implied the injured list decision was a cautionary move.
“The good news is it doesn’t appear to be anything overly serious, it wasn’t a traumatic effect that caused it, just general soreness,” Shildt said.
Merrill, who just signed a nine-year, $135 million contract extension with the Padres, leads the team in home runs, RBI, OPS and total bases.
To replace Merrill on the roster, Oscar Gonzalez was called up from Triple-A El Paso.
For Tuesday night’s game against the A’s, Brandon Lockridge replaced Merrill in center field, while Jose Iglesias got the start in left field.
Then the game started in Sacramento, and the injuries mounted.
In the 3rd inning, Jake Cronenworth hit a grounder to second base but never made it out of the batters box. Cronenworth immediately bent over in pain and limped off the field and did not return to the game. It was unclear what ailed the Padres starting second baseman.
Jake Cronenworth couldn’t run to first. Didn’t look good pic.twitter.com/1bRAmwLiQe
— Talking Friars (@TalkingFriars) April 9, 2025
Then in the 5th inning, Fernando Tatis Jr. left the game. Like Cronenworth, Tatis Jr’s injury is unclear; however. he did have an awkward swing in the first inning that appeared to cause him some pain.
As for the game, it was more bad news for the Padres.
The A’s scored 6 runs in the 1st inning and 3 in the 3rd, as they beat the Padres 10-4.
Padres starting pitcher Dylan Cease gave up a career high 9 earned runs in 4 innings.
The A’s and Padres wrap up their 3-game series Wednesday in Sacramento.
