Padres All-Star Carted Off After Alarming Knee Injury Amid Dodgers’ Divisional Race: ‘Felt Something Pop’

In the opening game of the Padres’ three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles at Petco Park on Monday night, their All-Star reliever—brought in at last year’s trade deadline—was carted off the field. It was the top of the seventh inning when, right after delivering his 26th pitch, Jason Adam collapsed on the ground due to an apparent lower leg injury.

The 34-year-old got the final out of the sixth inning and was three batters into the seventh inning. That’s when Gunnar Henderson sent a grounder up the middle. Adam’s delivery carried him toward the left. However, as he attempted to move back to his right against his own momentum to field the ball, he lost his balance.

He collapsed to the ground, and from the other end, all the trainers rushed over right away. Adam was lifted onto a cart and taken off the field with the help of his teammates. The cameras even caught him mouthing, “I felt something pop.”

After he was carted off, he received a standing ovation from the Petco Park crowd.

The game continued, and ultimately, the fellow All-Star Robert Suarez came in to take over.

The Padres were handed a 4-3 defeat by the Orioles. And with the latest loss, the Padres are now 2.5 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers for first place in the National League West.

Adam is in the middle of putting up the best season of his career. He earned his first-ever All-Star selection just a few months back. But during Monday night’s game, he was charged with an earned run after leaving. Still, Adam has been one of the Padres’ most reliable arms. He holds a clean 1.93 ERA and 70 strikeouts in 65 1/3 innings.

Well, the Padres have one of the league’s strongest bullpens. Yet, general manager A.J. Preller decided to strengthen it a bit more. At this year’s trade deadline, he acquired Mason Miller in a big deal that sent top prospect Leo De Vries to the Athletics.

Meanwhile, after the game, manager Mike Shildt confirmed that Adam suffered a ruptured tendon.

The Padres reveal an unfortunate update on Jason Adam’s injury

After the Padres’ 4-3 loss, Mike Shildt provided a much-awaited update on Adam. He confirmed that Adam suffered a ruptured tendon. “Our early prognosis is not favorable. I mean, things can change. But it’s a quad tendon rupture. It’s pretty clear and pretty serious.”

As per the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, there are two types of quad tendon ruptures. A partial tear and a complete tear—now for either of them, the recovery takes at least four months. Most of the time, the repairs take nearly six months to heal completely.

Further, Shildt added, “Don’t want to be too bleak, but it’s not overly positive.” Shildt dubs Adam as one of the Padres’ “five horsemen” of the bullpen. Adam, along with Morejon, Estrada, Robert Suarez, and Mason Miller, forms one of the strongest bullpens in all of MLB.

And now, to make things worse, Adam’s injury came just hours after superstar outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. was taken out of the lineup. It’s a “lower half tightness” that has kept him on the sidelines. Moreover, Xander Bogaerts is also on the injured list with a non-displaced fracture in his foot.

It won’t be a surprise if we hear the San Diego Padres in an anxious zone, especially as the playoffs come close…