Kansas City Royals star Bobby Witt Jr. was not listed in the starting lineup against the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday for the night’s game.
Witt will miss his second game in three days. He didn’t play in Sunday’s finale against the San Diego Padres due to back tightness. And on Monday, the injury flared up again as Witt left in the fifth inning.
“He’s still pretty stiff,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “I mean his back spasm (locked up) pretty good yesterday, which is why he came out. And he is still feeling that today.”
Witt is expected to be day-to-day with the injury. On Tuesday, the Royals listed Tyler Tolbert as the starting shortstop against the Giants.
Witt has dealt with back tightness at different points during this season. He played through the injury, but the Royals will take a cautious approach.
“We have to see,” Quatraro said. “Obviously, we need to get the spasm to relax first, and then, figure out if it’s something that he can play through and how long that would be until he can.”
The Royals have been hindered by injuries all season. Witt is the latest player to be sidelined, alongside All-Star pitchers Cole Ragans, Kris Bubic and Carlos Estévez among others.
Witt also missed six games with a Grade 1 MCL sprain in June.
This season, Witt is hitting .279 with 13 home runs and 39 RBIs. He’s recorded 30 stolen bases and an .800 OPS (on-base plus slugging). And last week, Witt appeared in his third All-Star Game at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.
Here is the Royals’ lineup for Tuesday night’s game against the Giants at Kauffman Stadium:
1. Carter Jensen (C)
2. Lane Thomas (CF)
3. Jac Caglianone (RF)
4. Salvador Perez (DH)
5. Vinnie Pasquantino (1B)
6. Starling Marte (LF)
7. Michael Massey (2B)
8. Nick Loftin (3B)
9. Tyler Tolbert (SS)
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.kansascity.com ’
