SEATTLE --
After grounding out in the fifth, Lopes was replaced by utility man Dylan Moore in the seventh inning. Lopes was unavailable to talk after the game as he was being checked out for a possible concussion.\n\n“That was scary,” manager Scott Servais said. “He got smoked pretty good. When he came out at the end, he said his jaw stiffened up and was a little sore. We’ve got to keep a close eye on that one. He got stung pretty good. People don’t realize how hard that ball is coming and how little reaction time you have. Hopefully Timmy will be OK. We’ll check on him tonight and see how he is tomorrow when he comes in.”
Lopes took a knee behind home plate after getting hit in the head as he was checked out by the athletic trainers, but told Servais he wanted to stay in and keep playing.\n\n“After he got over the initial getting stunned by what happened, it was tough to come out of the game,” Servais said. “But he wasn’t feeling great by the sixth inning, so we just had to get him out of there.”
\n\nLet it be known that Tim Lopes is tough as nails. \uD83D\uDE24 #TrueToTheBlue
— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) July 26, 2019
Servais has called this a “season of opportunity” from the start as the Mariners look to give young players a chance to show where they might fit and Lopes is just the latest example. The youngster out of Los Angeles was drafted by the Mariners, but traded to the Blue Jays in 2017.\n\nBut he signed back with Seattle as a six-year Minor League free agent last winter and put together by far his most productive offensive season this year for Tacoma by posting a .302/.362/.480 line with 10 homers and 24 stolen bases in 91 games.\n\nTelevision cameras caught an emotional moment with his mom and dad prior to his MLB debut on Wednesday when he was a ninth-inning defensive replacement and Lopes was greeted by a loud ovation from the Mariners’ crowd when he came to the plate for his first at-bat on Thursday.\n\n“It’s a great story,” Servais said. “It’s awesome. That’s what the game is about. We’ve had a few of those this year. Austin Nola, guys that have been grinding through it and you give them an opportunity. It’s an accomplishment. People don’t realize how hard it is to get to the big leagues. It’s timing, you have to be a good player obviously. You have to grind through it. Big league baseball has been going on a long time and there’s been something like 19,700 players.”\n\nThe Mariners have done their best to increase that number this season. Lopes is the 12th Mariner to make his Major League debut this season, second only to the Padres’ 13 for the most in MLB. Seattle leads the Majors in most players used with 57, with no other team having utilized more than 48.\n\nThe Mariners took advantage of a costly Tigers’ error to score five runs in the third, capped by