MIAMI — Marlins shortstop Otto Lopez, the Major League leader in hits and batting average, is day to day with right ring finger inflammation after injuring the finger while fielding a grounder on Saturday.
X-rays on the 27-year-old’s hand came back negative, but swelling persisted heading into Sunday’s series finale. “He’s sore today,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “There’s still some swelling there in the nail area. … Hopefully some of that soreness gets out of there, and he’s able to ramp up some more baseball activity.”
Lopez suffered the injury attempting to field a second-inning grounder with a 98.9 mph exit velocity off the bat of Joey Ortiz. The ball hopped up and caught Lopez on the nail area, leading to a fielding error. He remained in the game but went hitless in his next three at-bats and committed another error.
McCullough said the injury visibly affected Lopez’s swing. “It was certainly bothering him,” McCullough said. “He said that he was OK to keep going, and figured that today he was going to be much more sore than he was yesterday.”
Lopez told reporters that his nail protected his finger, which was taped up on Sunday, from incurring more damage. It bothered him more trying to grip the bat than throwing. He played catch before Sunday’s game to test the finger.
Entering Sunday, Lopez had started all but five of the Marlins’ 99 games this season. He continues to lead the Majors with 130 hits and a .335 average. Miami recalled infielder Graham Pauley from Triple-A Jacksonville and optioned outfielder Rece Hinds to provide infield coverage. Javier Sanoja started at shortstop in Lopez’s place for the series finale.
McCullough said the club will evaluate Lopez over the next couple of days before determining when he can return to the lineup.