{"id":2437794,"date":"2026-05-30T01:19:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T01:19:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2437794"},"modified":"2026-05-30T01:19:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T01:19:37","slug":"royals-tweak-batting-order-amid-struggles-on-offense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/royals-tweak-batting-order-amid-struggles-on-offense\/","title":{"rendered":"Royals tweak batting order amid struggles on offense"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"\"><!----><!----><\/p>\n<figure\/><!-- WPS-5038 -- removed the script from WPS and added the placeholder for trinity player --><!----><!--[--><!-- AiSummaryComponent.html --><\/p>\n<div class=\"ai-summary-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"ai-summary\"><a target=\"_blank\" class=\"expander\" onclick=\"this.classList.toggle('open');\" wp_automatic_readability=\"1\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"grid\" wp_automatic_readability=\"7\">\n<p class=\"summary\">AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kansascity.com\/news\/nation-world\/national\/article280707640.html\">Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<ul><!--[--><!--[--><\/p>\n<li>Royals changed their lineup with MacKenzie Gore scheduled as the Rangers&#8217; lefty starter.<\/li>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<li>Manager Matt Quatraro placed Maikel Garcia third, batting directly behind Bobby Witt Jr.<\/li>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<li>Lane Thomas will lead off and Salvador Perez will bat cleanup (fourth) in the lineup.<\/li>\n<p><!--]--><!--]--><\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--]--><!----><!----><span class=\"dateline\">ARLINGTON, TEXAS<\/span><!----><!----><!-- CONTENT --><!--[--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>The Kansas City Royals will <a target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"Follow\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Royals\/status\/2060452912938012935\">trot out a different batting order<\/a> against the Texas Rangers on Friday night.<\/p>\n<p><!----><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>The Royals will face Rangers left-handed starter MacKenzie Gore in the series opener at Globe Life Field. Gore owns a 4.42 ERA in 11 starts this season. And, left-handed hitters have fared slightly better against him<\/p>\n<p><!----><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Left-handed batters own a .790 OPS (on-base plus slugging) against Gore. Meanwhile, right-handed batters are hitting .191 in 176 plate appearances.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>The Royals will counteract Gore with veteran outfielder Lane Thomas leading off. He has experience with a career .818 OPS in the top spot.<\/p>\n<p><!----><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Royals manager Matt Quatraro dropped third baseman Maikel Garcia to the third spot. Garcia will bat behind star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. Garcia normally hits leadoff.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn some cases with Maikel, he gets hampered a little bit hitting in front of Bobby \u2014 that we want Bobby to really get the chance to hit,\u201d Quatraro said. \u201cBut in this case, I still want them together because I think that\u2019s a really formidable duo back to back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!----><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>The lineup will then feature Royals captain Salvador Perez batting fourth, Starling Marte batting fifth and Vinnie Pasquantino in the sixth spot.<\/p>\n<p><!----><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>The goal is to generate more opportunities on the basepaths with runners in motion.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re trying to get as much traffic and create as much havoc at the top of the order as we can,\u201d Quatraro said. \u201cAnd I like the idea of Maikel hitting in front of Salvy. Maybe get him in motion a little bit more. Salvy, obviously, gets a lot of off-speed. He gets pitched very tough, but also, he\u2019s a free swinger.<\/p>\n<p><!----><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, Maikey\u2019s running and Salvy\u2019s swinging, maybe we get some holes opened up and we can get some stuff going.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!----><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>In theory, the Royals will also give outfielder Jac Caglianone a <a target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"Follow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kansascity.com\/sports\/spt-columns-blogs\/vahe-gregorian\/article315806036.html\">chance to face a tough lefty<\/a>. He will bat eighth and follow second baseman Nick Loftin in the lineup.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Caglianone owns a .190 batting average in 42 at-bats against left-handed pitchers.<\/p>\n<p><!----><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe hits the ball hard,\u201d Quatraro said. \u201cYou know, if we can get him to be disciplined up, I think there is a lot of stuff he can handle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!----><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s possible the Royals could experiment more with their lineup. As the club searches for more offense, the ability to group their best hitters together could lead to desired results.<\/p>\n<p><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>Gore will be a staunch test. In his lone start against the Royals, Gore allowed one run, three hits and struck out 11 batters across seven innings.<\/p>\n<p><!----><!--]--><!--[--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s good,\u201d Quatraro said of Gore. \u201cHe\u2019s got plus stuff, and he doesn\u2019t give up a ton of hits. You got to lay off the ball up. He\u2019s got plus velo up in the (strike) zone. You know, a good pitch mix: slider, changeup, he can cut it. He\u2019s got a lot of things that are impressive. So you got to be disciplined, especially, up above the zone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!----><!--]--><!--]--><!----><!----><!----><!----><\/p>\n<div class=\"zone grid\">\n<div class=\"related-stories story-module\">\n<h5>Related Stories from  Kansas City Star<\/h5>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"story-module\" wp_automatic_readability=\"28.718181818182\">\n<div class=\"author-card \" wp_automatic_readability=\"8.8363636363636\">\n<div class=\"thumb\">\n                <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kansascity.com\/profile\/274524051\/\"><br \/>\n                        <br \/>\n                    <\/a>\n        <\/div>\n<div class=\"article-details\">\n<p>                <a target=\"_blank\" class=\"author-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kansascity.com\/profile\/274524051\/\">Jaylon Thompson<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <!-- Added as per FE-855 --><\/p>\n<p>                    <span class=\"credit\">The Kansas City Star<\/span><\/p>\n<p> <!-- Added as per FE-855 --><\/p>\n<p>                     <!-- End of class=\"social-media\" --><\/p><\/div>\n<p>            <span>Jaylon Thompson covers the Royals for The Kansas City Star. He previously covered the 2021 World Series and the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Jaylon is a proud alumnus of the University of Georgia.<\/span>\n            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.kansascity.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom. Read our AI Policy. Royals changed their lineup with MacKenzie Gore scheduled as the Rangers&#8217; lefty starter. Manager Matt Quatraro placed Maikel Garcia third, batting directly behind Bobby Witt Jr. Lane Thomas will lead off and Salvador Perez will bat cleanup (fourth) in the lineup. ARLINGTON, TEXAS The Kansas [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2395777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2437794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/KC-Royals-snap-4-game-win-streak-in-5-2-loss-to.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2437794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2437794"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2437794\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2437795,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2437794\/revisions\/2437795"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2395777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2437794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2437794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2437794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}