Rays’ Nick Franklin diagnosed with head contusion, avoids concussion

San Diego Padres’ Edwin Jackson pitches to the Tampa Bay Rays during the first inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016, in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Green pointed to the fourth inning, where even though trailing 7-1, the Padres had the bases loaded with one out and ideal hitters up, but Wil Myers and Yangervis Solarte both struck out to end the inning. He had not realized Franklin had stepped behind him to grab a bat and, on his initial backswing, he hit Franklin in the head.

Franklin stayed in the lineup and drew a leadoff walk, later scoring on Brad Miller’s two-out home run.

“Right when it first happened, I felt a little bit dazed”, said Franklin, who passed a concussion protocol test.

The Padres are 7-23 in their last 30 Tuesday games, 1-5 in their last six games on turf, and 2-5 in their last seven interleague road games while the Rays are 7-3 in their last 10 home games against a righty, 1-5 in their last six interleague home games, and 3-8 in Snell’s last 11 starts. Franklin was wearing a helmet. A few feet away, teammate Kevin Kiermaier was stretching, swinging a bat over his head with one arm.

“Partially it was my fault”, Franklin added.

3B Evan Longoria played in his 1,236th game with the Rays to pass Carl Crawford for the most in team history.

Padres: OF Jabari Blash (sore knuckle) got the day off. …

Longoria holds the franchise mark in a number of offensive categories including homers, RBIs and extra-base hits.

The Padres (50-69) didn’t fare much better at the plate, with Rays starter Blake Snell (4-5) striking out eight and relievers striking out seven more Padres batters.

Chris Johnson drove in two runs with a home run and a double, former reliever David Phelps pitched into the sixth inning in his third start of the season.

The Rays plan to discuss Wednesday the next step for RHP Chase Whitley, one of two pitchers nearing a return from Tommy John surgery.

Rays: RHP Matt Andriese (6-4) takes the hill Friday night against LHP Cole Hamels (12-4) and AL West-leading Texas.