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By Sandy Burgin / Special to MLB.com

Eduardo Perez is carried off the field after a fifth-inning injury. (Chris Carlson/AP)

Unfortunately it may be the last game Perez plays this season for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Perez suffered a torn left Achilles' tendon Sunday when he fell between second and third trying to leg out a triple in the fifth inning. He was taken off the field in a motorized cart and fitted with a splint at the ballpark by Angels team physician Dr. Craig Milhouse. He will be re-evaluated Monday in St. Petersburg by Devil Rays team orthopedic surgeon Dr. Koco Eaton.

Asked if he could be back this season, Perez answered, "No."

Perez was certainly hurting after the game.

"I'm not a pessimist at all, but I've seen past history on Achilles' tears," Perez said. "As an athlete, everyone who has tears that is a low point of their careers."

The 33-year-old Perez, son of Hall of Famer Tony Perez, underwent arthroscopic surgery on his knee in June 2001 and missed the rest of the season with the Hanshin Tigers of the Japanese Central League. He suffered a right hamstring strain and sprained right knee that sidelined him over a month with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2000.

In 1998, on the day his father was inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame, Perez suffered a hip flexor while rounding third base and didn't play a game the rest of the year. In 1995 when he was with the Angels, he underwent surgery in the offseason to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder.

And in 1994 he played the final six weeks of the Triple-A season with a hernia in his right side. He had surgery following the playoffs.

"As soon as it popped I knew I was in serious trouble," said Perez. "You known when you're down, you're done.

Sandy Burgin is a contributing writer for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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