Xander Bogaerts had already missed 47 games with a fractured left shoulder. Next week’s All-Star break afforded the opportunity for the 31-year-old second baseman an easy out for another week of rehab if he was OK with missing just three more games.
He was not.
Forty-seven games has been long enough.
“I think it’s pretty fair to say they could do it without me,” Bogaerts said. “But I still know who I am as a player. I still know how much I can help out. If I felt bad, I probably wouldn’t do it, but I’m feeling good.
“I mean, the boys are ready to roll, you know.”
Been ready, really.
Just not quite able.
Bogaerts singled in his first at-bat in a much-anticipated return to the lineup, but neither he nor his teammates managed much more than that in Friday’s 6-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves that sent the Padres to a fifth straight loss, tied for their longest skid this season.
Braves rookie Spencer Schwellenbach delivered this one on a platter, retiring the last 12 hitters he faced in a seven-inning gem that sets up a daunting weekend against All-Stars Reynaldo Lopez and Chris Sale.
The team, after all, was hitting .209/.248/.313 over the previous four games and managed just five hits in dropping the opener.
Two were back-to-back doubles from Jake Cronenworth and Manny Machado to start the fourth inning, but Matt Waldron wasted the advantage immediately, giving up a solo homer to Marcell Ozuna and two-run shot to Orlando Arcia to cap a four-run rally.
Waldron went on to complete seven innings on 80 pitches, striking out one, walking one and really having his only trouble in that fifth inning.
Right-hander Logan Gillaspie allowed a run in the eighth inning and Ozuna, locked and loaded for Monday’s Home Run Derby in Texas, hit his second homer of the game in the ninth off right-hander Enyel De Los Santos.
The hope is that the return of Bogaerts — after six rehab games — is a shot in the arm for a team began the weekend out of playoff position altogether.
“Feels great,” Bogaerts said before going 2-for-4 in his first game off the injured list. “A little nervous, you know. I mean, it’s been a minute since being in a real big-league game. So hopefully those nerves go away in the first inning, you know. I mean good nerves, though. In the end, I’m only human.”
A week earlier, the Padres were nipping at the heels of the Braves, the NL’s top wild-card team, after a 12-3 stretch in which Manny Machado stepped to the forefront of the offense for really the first time this season.
It was needed, as Fernando Tatis Jr. joined Bogaerts on the injured list with a stress reaction in his right femur.
The Padres are also without right-hander Joe Musgrove through at least the end of the month. They do not know if Yu Darvish will come off the restricted list this year.
Whatever pitching reinforcements come ahead of the trade deadline, the Padres need Bogaerts to help lift an offense like he did all those years in Boston as a four-time All-Star and five-time Silver Slugger.
“We need him,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “He’s here and a big part of what we do and it’s good to have a guy with World Series championship experience back with the club. …
“His experience coupled with his talents, a great addition back to the club.”
At least if it’s vintage Bogaerts rejoining a team that went 24-23 after Bogaerts exited the first game of a doubleheader in Atlanta on May 20.
The version that the Padres welcomed back on Friday is looking to dig himself out of a .219/.265/.316 hole to start his second season in San Diego.
“Listen, a couple days ago we were in a great spot, you know, and maybe we’re not in a great spot (now), but we’re still in a good spot,” Bogaerts said “Can’t control what happened in the past few games. … We’ve been playing really good besides the last couple games. That’s baseball. Hopefully we can end the All-Star break on a high note.”
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