Maxwell capitalizes on starting opportunity

KANSAS CITY -- The Royals started Justin Maxwell in right field to give them another right-hander in the outfield against Rangers right-hander Alexi Ogando, and the decision paid off. Maxwell went 2-for-4 with a single off Ogando and a walk-off grand slam against former Royals closer Joakim Soria.

Maxwell joined lefty Alex Gordon and righty Lorenzo Cain in the outfield, leaving lefties David Lough and Jarrod Dyson on the bench.

"[Ogando has] a real good changeup that he gets lefties out with," manager Ned Yost said. "He's got a nice slider, but it's not really a swing-and-miss slider, it's a bigger-type slider. Righties have a much higher slugging percentage, a much higher on-base percentage than lefties do against him so we decided to go that way."

Entering Sunday's game, right-handed batters were hitting .270 against Ogando, which is the highest in his career, while he held left-handed batters to a career-low .190 average.

Maxwell is hitting .271 (36-for-133) against right-handers this season.