A bad game on Friday got worse for the Mariners when exciting rookie Lazaro Montes left the game in the fifth inning after a collision with the right field wall.
Montes, who was running at full speed to chase down a fly ball off the bat of Zack Gelof that seemed destined for the right field seats, collided hard with the wall in right and fell down, managing to flip the ball to center fielder Julio Rodríguez to throw back in before writhing in pain on the ground for several long moments.
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He was eventually helped up by Rodríguez and examined by the training staff before staying in the game for another two hitters and making a play on a hard-hit line drive in front of him. During a pitching change, the trainers again went to see Montes, later joined by Dan Wilson, and this time he came out of the game.
“I think he felt good enough to stay in there, but then on the play he came in on the ball he kinda felt it, so I think that was a natural time to get him out,” said Wilson. “On the play where he came in and charged, I think he felt it a little bit more than he thought. So at that point, I thought it was a good time to get him out of there and make sure that he checked out okay.”
The Mariners later announced Montes left the game with left hip soreness. He had a visible mild limp while walking off the field. The good news is x-rays were negative.
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“We’ll see how he is in the morning and see if anything else is further needed at this point,” said Wilson.
If Montes is forced to miss time, the obvious replacement for Montes would be hot-hitting prospect Michael Arroyo. However, Tacoma is away in Albuquerque this week, so he likely wouldn’t be able to get here immediately. In tonight’s game against the Isotopes, Arroyo had two hits including a triple and hit a sacrifice fly in an 11-6 Rainiers loss.
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