San Diego Padres third baseman Luis Rengifo, who began the year with the Milwaukee Brewers, suffered a season-ending injury on a strange play in his team’s loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday, one of two former Brewers with serious injuries.
Confirmation came Monday that Rengifo had suffered an ACL and MCL tear on this play in the seventh inning of the Aug. 29 game, when Rengifo tried to throw home during a chaotic sequence and fell in a heap. The play allowed the Rays to score two additional runs and tie the score at 6-6, a game Tampa Bay went on to win, 7-6.
Rengifo had to be carted from the field. It’s a brutal ending for a player who had turned his season around, improving from a .534 OPS with the Brewers in 57 games to a .784 mark in 38 games. That included a grand slam against his old team, the Brewers, earlier in August during a Padres sweep.
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The Padres have lost five of six games and are a ½ game behind Arizona for the last National League wild-card spot heading into the week.
Meanwhile, former Brewers shortstop Willy Adames may also be done for the year with the San Francisco Giants. He has a left elbow strain that required a platelet-rich plasma injection, putting the rest of his season in doubt.
The Giants have never given a larger contract to a free agent than the seven-year, $182 million given to Adames before the 2025 season. The beloved former Brewer, who played in Milwaukee from 2021-24, dropped to a .740 OPS last year and fell to .713 this year, which would represent a career-worst if he doesn’t return.
Adames, who still hit 30 homers last year and 21 this year with the Giants, will turn 31 on Wednesday. He’s been abundantly available in his career, playing at least 139 games in all of his seasons that he spent in Milwaukee.
The Giants came into the week 56-81, well out of a playoff spot.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Ex-Brewer Rengifo lost for season with ACL tear (and Adames hurt, too)
