The San Diego Padres are one of the best teams in baseball so far this season, but they are also battling with three other elite teams at the top of the incredibly strong NL West. As a result, none of those teams can afford to have any big injuries that will hamper them for any extended period.

Unfortunately for the Padres, they haven't made it through Friday's game against the Pittsburgh Pirates unscathed. Star outfielder Fernando Tatis Jr. was hit by a pitch in the third inning and left the game.

Incredibly, Tatis had a ton of swelling on his left forearm where he was hit just seconds after being hit, via Apple TV baseball reporter Tricia Whitaker.

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Losing Tatis is critical for the Padres, as it takes one of their biggest bats and best hitters out of the lineup. He was replaced by Oscar Gonzalez on the bases and in right field after starting the game as the leadoff hitter.

The Padres have still been able to climb out to a lead on the road in Pittsburgh despite losing their star. In the fourth inning, Gavin Sheets crushed a solo home run to tie the game at one, and then Tyler Wade scored Xander Bogaerts on an RBI single to put the Friars in front 2-1. The Pirates then responded, tying the game at two in the bottom of the fourth.

Regardless of whether the Padres can come out with the win in this game, all of the focus in the coming days will be around the status of Tatis and whether he will be forced to miss any time or not. For the season, the right fielder is batting a scorching .345, the third-best mark in the MLB, with eight home runs and 18 RBIs. He has been one of the best run-producers on the team and has been their most consistent on-base man, so losing him for any period would be a big blow.

The Padres can't afford to have Tatis miss too much time as they currently sit at 19-11 heading into Friday's action. While that is one of the top records in the league, but they are still 1.5 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers for the top spot.