San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
MACHADO OUT WITH ELBOW ISSUE
A bout of tennis elbow barred Manny Machado from Saturday’s lineup, an ailment that Padres manager Bob Melvin said his 29year-old third baseman had been contending with for some time.
“We’re just trying to calm it down,” Melvin said Saturday afternoon. “Obviously he’s lobbying to play because he can play through just about anything, but this is something we need to calm down because it’s not getting any better.”
Machado leads the NL in hits (60), batting average (.357), on-base percentage (.438) and OPS (1.021) and is a bat that the Padres, as much as they are struggling to score runs, cannot afford out of the lineup for long. He’d started every game but one this year, 41 at third base and three “half-days” off as the designated hitter.
The DH, though, isn’t much of an option to keep Machado in the lineup as his elbow is a concern both throwing and swinging, Melvin said.
Machado is considered day-to-day.
“Again, he could (play), but it’s too early in the season,” Melvin said. “He’s too important to us to have something linger for too long, next thing you know you’re potentially looking at a longer stint if it gets worse.
“We need to cut it off right now.”
Tatis’ progress
Fernando Tatis Jr. spent some time taping Jurickson Profar’s bat for him before batting practice Friday.
As far as anyone knows, that is the only time Tatis has held a bat since his March 16 wrist surgery. Yet he and the Padres insist he is on track for a return in late June.
“Everything is pointing that way,” he said.
The latest imaging on Tatis’ wrist did not make the Padres comfortable enough for him to hold a bat.
Asked how he could be so certain of his timeline when he has yet to even hold a bat, Tatis laughed.
So, it is possible he has held a bat.
“Maybe in the shadows,” he said, still laughing.
Every player who has to watch his team play describes it as the most difficult thing they have to go through in the game. And it is difficult to imagine a player less suited to be sidelined.
“It was hard,” Tatis said of getting the results of his latest CT scan. “I was ready to go, but I’ve got to listen to the doctors. … It’s been pretty hard. But it’s one of those moments I’ve got to learn from and mature. I have to learn how to be patient. I’ve never been one that is good at waiting, so I have to learn.”
Another scan of the bone is likely to occur this week. Once he does begin swinging, Tatis would need to progress from light swinging with no contact to hitting off a tee to batting practice to facing live pitching to a rehab assignment. That process could be completed in as little as three weeks, though the Padres certainly won’t rush their 23-year-old star.
“I just need to see pitches,” he said. “I’m not going to put a time on it. I just need to get my timing out there and be confident at the plate.”
Alcantara starts
Without Machado in the lineup, Sergio Alcantara started his first game in a Padres uniform: at shortstop and in the nine-hole.
Before Saturday, Alcantara had appeared in four games since he was claimed from the Diamondbacks on May 9, but received just one at-bat as Robinson Cano’s arrival days later had made it difficult to fit Alcantara into the lineup.
Alcantara received a text from Melvin on Saturday afternoon alerting him that he’d be in the lineup for the first time.
“For me, I’m here to help in whatever way I can,” Alcantara said through interpreter Danny Sanchez . “I just try to stay focused and whenever the team needs me, whenever I’m called up, I’ll be ready to go.”
Notable
Mark Ripperger joined the umpire crew on Saturday, replacing Jeff Nelson, who exited Friday’s game with a back issue.
jeff.sanders@sduniontribune.com kevin.acee@sduniontribune.com