Ryan Braun exits game with a sore Achilles tendon

SAN DIEGO -- The Brewers, already reeling from losing first baseman Mat Gamel to a significant knee injury, now are monitoring reigning National League Most Valuable Player Ryan Braun's sore Achilles tendon.

Braun exited Wednesday's 5-0 loss to the Padres here in the sixth inning with a sore right Achilles. He said he suffered the injury sliding while stealing second base during Tuesday night's game.

"It's just a little sore," Braun said.

The Brewers are off on Thursday before opening a series in San Francisco on Friday night. Braun's status?

"We'll see how it feels tomorrow," he said.

A Los Angeles native, Braun planned to spend Thursday's off-day at home in Southern California before joining the Giants in San Francisco on Friday.

Brewers manager Ron Roenicke, who now has watched his team fail to score a run for 18 consecutive innings, called Braun's injury a "tight" Achilles but does not view it as an overriding concern.

"I don't think so," Roenicke said.

Braun, whose MVP award became clouded in controversy last winter when he failed a performance-enhancing drug test and subsequently had Major League Baseball's attempt to suspend him overturned by an arbiter on a technicality, left following a sixth-inning at-bat in which he flied to left field.

He leads the Brewers with seven homers and 17 RBI and was just two days removed from a monster game to start this series, becoming the first player ever to belt three home runs in a game in Petco Park on Monday. He also added a triple that night.

The day started with Milwaukee receiving news that Gamel, injured Tuesday evening on a foul pop fly, suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and will undergo surgery. Though the Brewers are hoping to see him again later this season, there is a very good chance that he's finished for the year.

Gamel is hitting .246 with one homer and six RBI in 21 games, though the Brewers feel like he's been coming around lately. With Prince Fielder having signed with Detroit as a free agent during the winter, this was a big opportunity for Gamel, a 26-year-old who batted .310 with 28 homers and 96 RBI in 128 games for Triple-A Nashville last season.

"He was getting his chance," Brewers general manager Doug Melvin said. "He had waited for his chance and opportunity. It looked like he was trying to avoid the wall. That's what's tough about it."