ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP)—Edwin Rodriguez forsees a bright future for the Florida Marlins. He just won’t be on the bench to see it.

Rodriguez, the first Puerto Rican-born manager in major league history, unexpectedly resigned Sunday after less than one year on the job.

Bench coach Brandon Hyde managed the last-place Marlins as they dropped their 10th straight game, 2-1 to the Tampa Bay Rays. But the club will begin a search for an interim manager and potential candidates include 80-year-old Jack McKeon, the special assistant to the owner who led Florida to a World Series title in 2003.

“It was a tough day,” an emotional Hyde said. “Edwin talked to the staff this morning. It’s been a roller-coaster, let’s put it that way, the past few weeks. It’s disappointing. Edwin is a good man and a good manager. I thought our guys handled it well.”

Hyde said the Marlins have not addressed any future plans with him. He was also unaware that Rodriguez was planning to step down.

“I’m the bench coach right now filling in for whatever happens,” Hyde said. “I’m going to do my job. We don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Rodriguez said it was difficult to leave, given the “positive way the organization is moving, a new ballpark next season and the young core of players.”

“I can’t say enough about the effort that this staff and these players have put into this season,” he said in a statement released by the team. “I could tell that they continued to give 100 percent effort each and every day on the field. I wish this organization and players nothing but success in their futures.”

Rodriguez became interim manager June 23 of last year after Fredi Gonzalez was fired. He was given the job permanently five days later.

“It’s been extremely frustrating for everyone,” Florida president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest said. “I think everyone here knows what is going on—the way we’ve played, the way we’ve performed. It’s tough on everyone, especially him.

“He communicated with me early this morning that this was something he was thinking about, and when I got to the ballpark we accepted his resignation.”

Florida went 46-46 under Rodriguez, who opened the 2010 season as the Marlins’ Triple-A manager in New Orleans.

“This was an extremely frustrated, proud man,” Beinfest said. “This kind of caught us a little off guard. I know there’s been a lot of speculation, everything, but this is not something I thought was going to happen today.”

The Marlins fell to 1-18 in June with Sunday’s loss to the Rays. Ace pitcher Josh Johnson(notes) is injured and star shortstop Hanley Ramirez(notes), struggling through a miserable slump all season, also had been sidelined during a stunning skid that left the team 32-40 and last in the NL East.

“We’re getting paid to do a job, and the job we’ve done the last few weeks hasn’t been good enough,” Hyde said. “We have to get better in all areas. We all have to do a better job of taking the next step. The next step is, there’s too much talent in that clubhouse to play the way we’ve been playing.”

Ramirez, who recently spoke out in support of Rodriguez, declined comment.

Beinfest said the club would act quickly on an interim manager.

“So we can move ahead with the business of playing baseball and trying to win games,” he said. “When you have a change like this, with a popular person, I think it’s tough on a lot of people. You just need to go play baseball, and that’s first and foremost.”

Beinfest informed the players of Rodriguez’s decision during a team meeting before Sunday’s game.

Rodriguez was at the ballpark and talked with individual players in the manager’s office. He didn’t speak with reporters.

“It was surprising, I guess, but I think it’s more shocking,” infielder Wes Helms(notes) said. “Right now, nothing is going right for us. Right now, it’s all negative with the Marlins, that’s the way it is. It’s tough to swallow, it really is. I do know he did everything he could. We didn’t do our job as a team.”

Florida was limited to four hits Sunday by James Shields(notes) (7-4), who threw his fifth complete game of the season.

“When it rains, it pours,” Marlins reliever Randy Choate(notes) said. “You can’t do anything else besides go back out there and keep battling.”

The Marlins became the second big league team to change managers this season. Oakland fired Bob Geren on June 9 and replaced him with Bob Melvin for the rest of the season.

Beinfest did not rule out additional changes.

“When you go the way we’ve been going, I think everything is on the table,” Beinfest said. “I’m probably on the table as well, and rightfully so. It’s been a very difficult period and I think when you go through these things you can’t rule anythin