Royals put Kris Bubic, Jac Caglianone on IL; newly acquired Randal Grichuk into starting lineup
KANSAS CITY Mo AP The Royals placed All-Star left-hander Kris Bubic on the -day injured list with a rotator cuff strain and outfielder Jac Caglianone on the -day IL with a strained left hamstring amid a series of moves before their series finale against Cleveland on Sunday The Royals also welcomed outfielder Randal Grichuk who was acquired on Saturday night in a deal that shipped reliever Andrew Hoffmann to Arizona and recalled right-handed reliever Jonathan Bowlan from Triple-A Omaha to help the bullpen Bubic walked the first four batters he faced and only managed to last innings against the Guardians on Saturday when he started the second encounter of a split doubleheader He needed pitches to get through the first inning and he wound up allowing four runs and three hits in his shortest start since Sept at Boston He s getting certain further testing and then we ll talk to the doc here and see what we got Royals manager Matt Quatraro mentioned Bubic announced he s experienced several shoulder soreness for much of the season but he s been able to pitch through it at a break-through level Even with the rocky start Saturday he has a ERA the fifth-best mark in the American League I mean you see how he s performed Quatraro stated Majority pitchers when they go out there they feel something almost every time The severity of it and his ability to continue to deal with it has been manageable by his own admission And it s gotten to the point where you know he doesn t and we don t feel like it s best for him to keep fighting through it The Royals rotation has suddenly thinned considerably Left-hander Cole Ragans remains on the IL with a strained rotator cuff and is not expected back until late August and right-hander Michael Lorenzen is progressing from his strained left oblique but may need to make a rehab start before he returns to the Royals sometime in August The Royals already have had to plug one spot with -year-old Rich Hill who pitched well in his debut for them this past week Caglianone the Royals -year-old power-hitter felt tightness in his hamstring while running down a double into the gap in the first competition of Saturday s doubleheader Then he felt the twinge again while running to first on a groundout later the inning The timing of the injury could have been worse The Royals had been working on a deal to land Grichuk who nearly signed with them in the offseason but will now help them primarily against left-handed hitting for the rest of the season You ve seen our outfield had gotten very heavily left-handed Something we thought we needed to add was a right-handed bat explained Quatraro whose crew began the day - and games back in the AL wild-card race Grichuk was for on Saturday night in Pittsburgh flying out in the second inning and the fourth when he was advised by the Diamondbacks that he had been traded He hugged several teammates in the dugout and then headed out catching a flight first thing Sunday so that he could be in Kansas City in time for the series finale against the Guardians He was put in the starting lineup right away batting sixth and playing right field When they called they revealed If you re willing to be here to play you know we want you in the starting lineup Grichuk announced and yeah I want to play That s kind of my M O And so I noted Let s do it We ll make it happen even if it s crazy journey The one hang-up was Grichuk s number He s unfailingly worn and that number was taken by backup catcher Luke Maile But it turns out the two knew each other from their days together in Toronto so a quick text message smoothed things out Maile took No and gave his old buddy No We ll work something out Grichuk declared of prospective compensation It s pretty cool that he was able to give it to me Grichuk commented AP MLB https apnews com hub mlb Source
