Despite sitting in second place in the NL West Division, the San Diego Padres are in the midst of a 3-7 slide and winners of just four of their past 17 games. Things got a little tougher for the Friars as the team announced on Saturday that Miguel Andujar is hitting the 10-day IL retroactive to June 11.
Andujar, 31, has primarily played as the Padres designated hitter this year. In 54 games, he is slashing .254/.288/.418, with five home runs and 17 RBI. He signed a one-year, $4.5 million deal with San Diego in the offseason after splitting last year with the Athletics and Cincinnati Reds.
The Padres were originally uncertain if Andujar would need a stint on the IL. He tweaked his hamstring during Sunday's game against the New York Mets and has been out of the lineup ever since. Andujar managed to pinch-hit on Tuesday and Wednesday against the Reds, but once on base, he was immediately replaced with a pinch-runner, indicating that his hamstring injury was serious enough to prevent him from running the bases.
Andujar started the season hot, posting a .925 OPS in April, which also corresponded to San Diego's strong start to the year. Both have cooled down in recent weeks, and perhaps Andujar's time off will allow him to reset at the plate. The ten-year MLB veteran has had a history of being a streaky hitter, but has pieced together a career .750 OPS with five different teams.
For the Padres, they find themselves just a half-game up on the Arizona Diamondbacks for second in the NL West division. With the Los Angeles Dodgers once again dominating the division, the Padres and Diamondbacks will be battling it out for at least one of the NL Wild Card spots. Heading into Saturday's action, the Padres were tied with the Chicago Cubs for the final Wild card position.
In a corresponding move, the Padres recalled outfielder Nick Solak from Triple-A El Paso to their 26-man active roster ahead of Saturday's game against the Baltimore Orioles.
