ST. PETERSBURG -- Daniel Robertson's injured left thumb, intially diagnosed as a sprain, will require surgery that will likely end the season for the Rays infielder.
"Not good news," said Robertson, who noted he'll have the surgery either Tuesday or Thursday. "I'm not a math guy, but six to eight weeks, and we've got about seven weeks of the season left. Probably not going to be a need to push it. If there's something going on, we're making a late push, maybe. But it's something I just have to take day by day to get it cleaned up."
Robertson sustained the injury while making a hard, headfirst slide into second base on an eighth-inning double in the Rays' 3-2 loss to the White Sox on Friday. Despite exhibiting pain, Robertson remained in the game and scored when Joey Wendle laced an RBI single past third and into left field during the ensuing at-bat. Robertson was pulled from the game ahead of the top of the ninth.

"It's disappointing, it's very disappointing," Robertson said. "One, to not be able to go out and compete with these guys. Just felt like I was turning the corner mentally. I was in a good spot."
Over 87 games this year, Robertson is hitting .262/.382/.415 across 282 at-bats.
"We probably knew that surgery, or no surgery, he was going to miss most of the [remainder of the] season, if not all of it," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "[Robertson has been] such a big part, even once the game started [Saturday], not having him out there. Not having him on the bench to do different things, it's going to hurt. We're going to need to kind of dive into our versatility a little more.
"Robby wasn't just versatile. He was good wherever you put him, and he was giving good at-bats. So, tough guy to replace."