<\/p>\n
The reeling Kansas City Royals<\/a> trotted out a different batting order<\/a> for their road-series opener against the Texas Rangers<\/a> on Friday night.<\/p>\n The Royals faced Rangers<\/a> left-handed starter MacKenzie Gore<\/a> 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 than right.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Lefties came in with a .790 OPS (on-base plus slugging) against Gore. Meanwhile, right-handed batters were hitting .191 against him in 176 plate appearances.<\/p>\n The Royals were going to try to counteract Gore with veteran outfielder Lane Thomas<\/a> leading off. He has experience, with a career .818 OPS in the top spot in the batting order.<\/p>\n Royals manager Matt Quatraro dropped third baseman Maikel Garcia<\/a> to the third spot. Garcia batted behind star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. Garcia normally hits leadoff.<\/p>\n \u201cIn some cases with Maikel, he gets hampered a little bit hitting in front of Bobby \u2014 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 Advertisement<\/p>\n The tweaked KC lineup featured Royals captain Salvador Perez<\/a> batting fourth, Starling Marte<\/a> fifth and Vinnie Pasquantino<\/a> sixth.<\/p>\n The goal is to generate more opportunities on the basepaths with runners in motion.<\/p>\n \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.<\/p>\n \u201cSalvy, obviously, gets a lot of off-speed. He gets pitched very tough, but also, he\u2019s a free swinger. So (if) Maikey\u2019s running and Salvy\u2019s swinging, maybe we get some holes opened up and we can get some stuff going.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The Royals also gave outfielder Jac Caglianone<\/a> a chance to face a tough left-hander<\/a>. He batted eighth, following second baseman Nick Loftin<\/a>, who filled the 8-hole. Ninth was Kyle Isbel<\/a>.<\/p>\n Caglianone was batting just .190 (in 42 at-bats) against left-handed pitchers this year.<\/p>\n \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 It\u2019s possible the Royals could experiment more with their lineup, too. As they search for more offense, grouping their best hitters together could lead to desired results.<\/p>\n Gore will be a staunch test. In his lone start against the Royals, he allowed just one run on three hits, striking out 11 in seven innings.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s good,\u201d Quatraro said of Gore. \u201cHe\u2019s got plus-stuff, and he doesn\u2019t give up a ton of hits. You\u2019ve 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\u2019ve got to be disciplined, especially, up above the zone.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source sports.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The reeling Kansas City Royals trotted out a different batting order for their road-series opener against the Texas Rangers on Friday night. The Royals faced Rangers left-handed starter MacKenzie Gore 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 than right. 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