Santiago Sidelined by Injury : Baseball: Padre catcher sustains broken finger in 5-1 loss to St. Louis.

The Padres, who were talking about their playoff hopes only 24 hours ago, instead found themselves Saturday night worrying about survival in the National League West race.

Padre All-Star catcher Benito Santiago fractured the small finger of his right hand Saturday night in their 5-1 defeat to the St. Louis Cardinals, and is expected to be out three to five weeks.

Santiago will be placed on the 15-day disabled list today, Padre Manager Greg Riddoch said, and probably will be replaced on the roster by Dan Walters of triple-A Las Vegas.

“It’s going to hurt, it’s going to hurt us a lot,” first baseman Fred McGriff said. “He’s our No. 5 hitter. It could change our whole offense.”

Said Padre right fielder Tony Gwynn: “We could have trouble, big trouble.”

Doctors placed on Santiago’s finger a splint that will remain on for at least seven days. Santiago is scheduled to fly back to San Diego to be examined further by orthopedist specialist Jan Fronek.

“I’m hoping we get him back in three weeks,” Padre trainer Bob Day said. “The good news is that it’s not a displaced fracture, so there will be no surgery. No pins or anything like that.”

The injury occurred with one out in the second inning when Santiago struck one of the few hard-hit balls off Cardinal starter Bob Tewksbury (6-1). The ball sailed toward third base, kicked high in the air, and rolled down the left-field line.

Left fielder Bernard Gilkey retrieved the ball and made a perfect throw to second. The ball actually arrived before Santiago, but he dived head-first, hooking his left hand on the bag while his right finger collapsed underneath him.

Santiago was safe, but in obvious pain. Still, he remained in the game and even caught another inning. Yet when he went onto the on-deck circle in the fourth inning and started to grip the bat, the pain was unbearable.

“When I slid in, my finger stuck in the ground,” said Santiago, visibly dejected. “It just bent sideways.”

Santiago actually can still throw the ball without difficulty, but he’ll be unable to hit for at least three weeks. The Padres fear they might not have him back until almost the All-Star break.

“You know Benny, he’s a tough, tough kid,” Riddoch said. “Any time he can’t go, something is wrong. There was a lot of pain.”

Santiago initially was examined by Cardinal doctor Stan London, and X-rays at Busch Stadium revealed a cracked bone. He was then taken to Jewish Hospital in St. Louis where the fracture was diagnosed.

The injury immediately sent waves of panic in the Padre clubhouse. Riddoch was on the phone trying to reach Joe McIlvaine, Padre general manager. President Dick Freeman was on the phone next, leaving a message for Chairman Tom Werner.

And the Padres, whose four-game winning streak was snapped, looked at one another in disbelief.

Santiago, who’s batting .257 this season with four homers and 24 RBIs, was hitting .344 with 14 RBIs over his last 19 games.

“He was kind of the key to protecting everyone at the top of the lineup,” McGriff said. “They had to pitch to me because of Benny. Now, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Walters, who never has played in the major leagues, is expected to share playing time with Dann Bilardello, a career .207 hitter. Walters is hitting .390 with two homers and 23 RBIs at Las Vegas.

“I still think the club’s going to do well, no matter what happens,” said Bilardello, who’s hitting .091 this season. “Not to take anything away from Benny, but I really don’t think it’ll be that big of a disadvantage.

“I can do a good job. I’m ready. I haven’t been lollygagging. The thing that hurts the most is that Benny’s really been swinging the bat well. Hopefully, I can contribute offensively, too.”

This is only the second time in Santiago’s career that he’s been seriously injured. He sustained a broken left arm June 14, 1990, when he was hit by a pitch thrown by San Francisco Giant reliever Jeff Brantley.

“We’re going to have to find some way to pick up the slack,” McGriff said. “If one guy gets hurt, we can’t let it change the whole team.

“Right now, it’s pretty simple what has to happen for us to win.

“We need Jerald (Clark) and DJ (Darrin Jackson) to get hot.”

Jackson is in midst of a career-high 12-game hitting streak and is batting .242 for the season. But Clark still is struggling. His batting average plummeted to .182, and he has gone 96 at-bats without a homer.

The Padres’ offense, for the first time in five weeks, also has hit a snag. They were limited to four hits Saturday by Tewksbury and have managed a .143 average in the first two games of the St. Louis series after coming in with a .319 batting average in their previous 18 games.

The loss dropped the Padres to 27-22, in a virtual tie with the San Francisco Giants for second place, one-half game behind Cincinnati. The Reds moved into first place with a 9-4 victory over Montreal.

“What can you say?” said Gwynn, who broke the tip of his finger two weeks ago when he slammed it in a car door. “Crazy things happen in this game. Hopefully, we’ll be all right.

“We’ve been shut down the last couple of days, but we’ve faced some awfully good pitching too. This guy gives us fits.”

Tewksbury, who lowered his ERA to a league-low 1.78, was so dominant that he faced 11 consecutive batters during one stretch without allowing the ball out of the infield. He finished the game retiring 15 of the last 16 batters he faced.

Although Padre starter Craig Lefferts (6-3) pitched one of his better games of the season--striking out a career-high eight batters and allowing 10 hits and three earned runs in 6 2/3 innings--the offense wasn’t around to save his five-game winning streak.