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Padres lose Norris, Kelley in painful 7th inning

Catcher hyperextends elbow on play at plate; reliever strains forearm

SAN DIEGO -- It was a night that interim manager Pat Murphy called very unusual, with three different Padre players sustaining in-game injuries, as San Diego fell to Texas 8-6 on Tuesday night.

First, Yonder Alonso exited in the third inning with lower-back tightness.

"Alonso looks like it's going to be a couple of days, Murphy said. "He has some back tightness, has been nursing it for a couple of days. It got real bad during the game ... it really tightened up on him there, he bent over for a ball and had to get up quickly."

Alonso said that despite feeling pain in his back for a couple of days, he doesn't think it is anything too serious. He said he thinks he should be back soon.

Then, with the game tied 4-4 in the seventh inning, with two-outs and the bases loaded, Elvis Andrus singled to right field off reliever Shawn Kelley as Matt Kemp picked up the ball and threw to home. As the ball entered Norris' glove, Adrian Beltre slid feet first into home and into Norris' left arm, knocking the ball out and knocking the catcher down, as well. Norris lay on the ground as Rougned Odor scored Texas' third run of the inning.

Trainers came out and appeared to examine Norris' forearm. However, after the game Norris said his injury was diagnosed as a hyperextended elbow and shoulder.

"They'll see how it feels tomorrow when I wake up. Sometimes these things can bounce back quick, sometimes they linger," Norris said. "Hopefully I wake up tomorrow and get some treatment. Hopefully we'll be OK to go tomorrow. We'll see."

Norris said his immediate reaction was to grab his forearm because of the tingling sensation he was feeling.

"Definitely wasn't a pleasant feeling by any means, but definitely could've been worse," Norris said. "Definitely fortunate that it's just a muscular strain, just a little bit of a hyperextension, nothing else. Once again, we'll see if it feels better tomorrow."

Norris said looking back at the play to potentially avoid the injury he could have tried to tag the runner on the ankle instead of the shoe.

"But in that instance Adrian's not a small guy, lot of force coming into the glove," Norris said. "It's just kind of the way it works. ... It's kind of one of those things where you don't know what's going to happen."

Norris was 0-for-3 before being exiting the game and Austin Hedges came in to replace Norris at catcher in the seventh.

However, the bad luck wouldn't stop for the Padres there, as Kelley left the game after throwing his first warmup pitch following Norris' injury. Kelley was grimacing in pain after the first throw and headed back into the clubhouse instantly.

"Kelley might be the most serious [injury of the three]," Murphy said after the game. "It looked like a forearm strain, probably get an MRI tomorrow."

Kelley said on the warmup pitch he felt tightness in his forearm, discomfort and tingling.

Video: TEX@SD: Kelley is injured after a warmup pitch, exits

"It just didn't feel very good," Kelley said. "I think I felt something a little different on the pitch before to Andrus. ... I was 50/50 on if it was going to feel good on that warm-up pitch. I threw that warm-up pitch to [Hedges] because I knew I had a warm-up pitch and it didn't feel very good. I don't know much, going to see the doctors, it seems like it's more muscle related, outside forearm."

Kelley, who has suffered through elbow injuries before, said he is certain it's not his elbow.

Kevin Quackenbush would then enter the game to replace Kelley. With former Padre Will Venable batting, Andrus stole home to give the Rangers their eighth run of the game.

Video: Must C Classic: Andrus swipes home on straight steal

"Great play by the offense. They took advantage of our pitcher. They studied it, took advantage," Murphy said. "You should never get a base stolen in the stretch. But he didn't check and that's something he will never do again. Great play. ... He was reminded of it last week, that it could possibly happen. It's just something he has had a habit of doing, not looking at the runner."

Beth Maiman is an associate reporter for MLB.com.
Read More: San Diego Padres, Derek Norris, Shawn Kelley