HOUSTON -- The Marlins got Otto Lopez back in the lineup Tuesday night, and they wasted no time putting him back at shortstop and at the top of the order for their game against the Astros at Daikin Park.
Lopez had sat out the previous two games because of inflammation in his right ring finger, but the break ended after he tested it over the last couple of days. Miami listed him as day-to-day while he worked through catch, fielding drills and swings to see how the finger responded.
“It’s great to have Otto back,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “He felt pretty good yesterday and anticipated he would turn around and feel better today, and he does.
He woke up this morning and felt all right, so it’s great to have Otto back in the lineup. It’s hard to state how big of a factor he’s been for us this year on both sides of the ball.
To get Otto back in the lineup today is a good thing. I’m glad he was only down for a few days.”
The injury traces back to Saturday, when Lopez tried to handle a second-inning grounder off the bat of Joey Ortiz. The ball came off at 98.9 mph, hopped up on him and struck him in the nail area, leading to a fielding error. X-rays came back negative, and Lopez stayed in the game.
He finished that contest hitless in his next three at-bats and also made another error.
McCullough said the bat may be the trickier part for Lopez right now, at least in the short term, compared with fielding.
“There’s still some of the range of motion in the finger and him adjusting to maybe holding it a little bit differently,” McCullough said. “He felt OK with the transfers yesterday, getting the ball out of his glove, and the throwing felt more normal yesterday, so I don’t really anticipate there to be any issue. It’s just going to be him, at least for the foreseeable future, managing and just being not how he normally feels.”
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