KC Royals: Massive Lineup Changes in the Works
By Charles Lam
The Kansas City Royals are changing the lineup again tonight. Multiple regulars are not starting in the finale game against the Chicago White Sox.
Kansas City Royals designated hitter, Kendrys Morales, will be on the bench serving a one game suspension. He dropped his appeal process today.
Morales got kicked out of a game last Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Rays. He got tossed in the ninth inning of the game. Not many people knew about the ejection at the time. Now Morales is on the bench and is unable to be used in tonight’s game.
Both left-fielder Alex Gordon and outfielder Lorenzo Cain get tonight off. Billy Burns replaces Gordon in left-field and Jarrod Dyson takes over in center pushing Paulo Orlando to right-field.
Here’s a look at the lineup via Kansas City Royals beat reporter, Rustin Dodd’s Twitter account.
The Thursday lineup: Dyson 8, Orlando 9, Cuthbert 5, Hosmer 3, Perez DH, Escobar 6, Butera 2, Burns 7, Mondesi 4 (vs. Gonzales)
— Rustin Dodd (@rustindodd) August 11, 2016
The hodgepodge lineup might work for one night especially because ace, Danny Duffy, pitches tonight for the Kansas City Royals.
Duffy’s dominated the last few times he’s started. He’s got a 2.97 earned run average (ERA) this season. As a starter, Duffy’s ERA is 2.96 with a walks hits divided by innings pitched (WHIP) statistic of 0.986 in 16 starts this season.
With Duffy on the mound tonight, the Kansas City Royals shouldn’t have to put up huge offensive numbers to win the game. Maybe Ned Yost knew this and decided to give a few guys a day off.
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Burns, Dyson and Butera will have to step up if the KC Royals are going to win their second straight series. That shouldn’t be too hard because of the numbers Gordon and Morales amassed this season.
Alex Gordon struggled with his health and his overall offensive output this year. He’s slashed .203/.306/.331 for the Kansas City Royals in 2016. Gordon’s struck out 95 time in 82 games.
Kendry’s Morales hasn’t done a whole lot better either. He slashed .244/.312/.423 in 106 games. After his unbelievable June, with a slash line of .402/.453/.655, Morales has cooled down a bit. He slashed .191/.280/.382 in July. He’s worst month of the season.
Billy Burns and/or Jarrod Dyson will look to make an impact tonight. Dyson’s already contributed this week. He’s acquired two hits, one stolen base and a run scored during the last three games combined.
Billy Burns hasn’t looked good in royal blue so far this season. In three games, he’s got zero hits while striking out twice. Burns will look to get on base tonight and steal a few bags for the KC Royals this evening.
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In just a few hours, Kansas City Royals fans will see what the replacements bring to the team. Hopefully a few players will step up and give Duffy a few runs to work with. Maybe the KC Royals will win their second series in a row. That would be nice.