Ramón Laureano injured, will miss at least a portion of Padres’ postseason

Wednesday afternoon did not go nearly as well as the night before.

The Padres’ lineup was fuller at the start than when they rested three regulars on Tuesday, but they lost a game in both the division and wild-card standings — and a key player.

Both the Dodgers and Cubs won on Wednesday. The Padres now sit 2½ games behind the Dodgers in the National League West and 2½ back from the Cubs in the race for the No. 4 seed. Both teams will play Thursday, while the Padres are off.

The biggest blow coming out of Wednesday was the loss of outfielder Ramón Laureano, who departed in the third inning with a fractured index finger on his right hand and will miss next week’s wild-card series.

“Sometimes we come in and talk about, you know, it’s a slight fracture, it’s a hairline fracture,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “(This) is a fracture. So I want to temper expectations. But I also want to keep anything and everything on the table. But wouldn’t expect to see him early in the playoffs, but I would hold out hope for later.”

Laureano, who has driven in a team-high 30 runs since being acquired at the trade deadline, shook his hand after a swing on the seventh pitch of what ended up being a nine-pitch strikeout in the second inning. He was later seen being examined by an athletic trainer in the dugout as Bryce Johnson took his place in right field.

Laureano was playing there in place of Fernando Tatis Jr., who stayed home for a third consecutive day with flu-like symptoms. Shildt said Tatis was “definitely better” on Wednesday and indicated he could return by Friday for the start of the season-ending series against the Diamondbacks.

“Today was, let’s make sure it’s behind you,” Shildt said. “Not going to be in there. Just continue to rest. Take the day off tomorrow, be ready to go Friday.”

Wednesday’s other key development — or lack of thereof — regarded the Padres’ starting pitching situation for the wild-card series.

Dylan Cease finished the season strong enough, working out of trouble repeatedly before allowing his only run in the fifth inning.

With the Cubs being the most likely opponent next week, the Padres are considering using Cease to start one of the games in the best-of-three wild-card series.

While Cease on Wednesday completed a disappointing regular season with a 4.55 ERA in 32 starts, he did reach 215 strikeouts, the second-highest total in the NL. And he has a 0.96 ERA in three starts against the Cubs since the start of last season. That includes his allowing them three runs (two earned) in 5⅔ innings at Petco Park in April.

The Padres will use Thursday’s off day to alter the rotation, moving Yu Darvish up to start Friday and Michael King back a day to go Saturday. A strong outing by King and/or Darvish could compel the Padres to go with that duo after Nick Pivetta starts Game 1 on Tuesday.

Randy Vásquez is lined up to start the regular season finale Sunday, though whether that game matters could determine if he pitches that day or is held out so he is available to work out of the bullpen in the wild-card series.

Cease gave the Padres a chance Wednesday, which is all he would be asked to do in a postseason start. It was two of the pitchers the Padres plan on leaning on in the playoffs that let the game get away.

After Cease left a runner in scoring position in each of the first four innings, the Brewers broke through against him in a fifth inning that was somewhat symbolic of the right-hander’s mercurial season.

Cease got his seventh and eighth strikeouts of the game to start the inning before Brice Turang lined a single to left field. Turang advanced to third base on a wild pitch that bounced in the dirt and then off catcher Freddy Fermín and nearly all the way to the Brewers’ dugout, and he scored when Andrew Vaughn lined the next pitch to the corner in left field for a double.

Cease got a pop-up to end the inning and his day.

The Padres did not threaten much at all before tying the game in the sixth when Brewers manager Pat Murphy got burned by sticking with right-hander Erick Fedde against Jackson Merrill.

The logic behind the decision was not difficult to see, as Merrill had struck out in his previous two at-bats and Fedde had taken over for starter Chad Patrick to begin the fourth inning and retired the first eight batters he faced.

Fedde was ahead 1-2 against the ninth, Merrill, when he threw a cutter to the outer edge of the plate against the left-handed hitter, who sent the pitch off the bottom balcony of the Western Metal Building.

After David Morgan, fresh off the injured list, worked a scoreless sixth inning, Adrian Morejón surrendered a run on a pair of singles in the seventh inning.

The Padres failed to score despite loading the bases with one out in the seventh, and a scoreless eighth inning by Kyle Hart was followed by Jeremiah Estrada surrendering a home run to Danny Jansen in the ninth.

Now, the Padres move forward minus one of their most productive bats over the past two months. While Laureano has slowed following a torrid start to his time with the team, he hit .269 with nine home runs and nine doubles in 50 games since being acquired along with Ryan O’Hearn from the Orioles.

“It sucks,” O’Hearn said. “Everybody here has seen what kind of player he is and how much he has produced. I’ve been a witness to it all year long. It’s tough, because you get to this point in the season, you want to go to postseason at full strength, and a guy like that — he was hitting the middle of the order, he has been electric in the outfield. … A tough pill to swallow. It sucks. But in this game, injuries happen. You got a lot of good players, so someone’s going to step up and go get the wild card.”

Shildt said it would likely be Gavin Sheets who starts in left field. Sheets, who is batting .254 with a .756 OPS, has started a team-high 57 games in left this season.

“Winners find solutions,” Shildt said. “… Ramón has been fantastic for us. He’s a guy that brings a quality at-bat. … He’s a real threat. The ball jumps off his bat. He got real power, power to all fields. Understands how to situationally hit. Got some real toughness to him. He’s played a really good outfield, throws the ball well, been a good defender. He’s been a nice presence not only in our lineup but in our clubhouse. He’s got a nice demeanor about him, a good competitor. A winning player. It hurts. But we got to figure out a way to move forward, which we will.”