Royals aim to balance rest with performance
MINNEAPOLIS -- Royals manager Ned Yost finds himself in a tough spot this weekend.
Yost and his club have plenty to play for, like trying to secure home-field advantage throughout the American League postseason. The Royals entered Friday night's game against the Twins tied with the Blue Jays for the AL's best record, but the Jays own the tiebreaker, having won the season series, 4-3.
Then again, Yost would like to rest some of his banged-up players. But Yost also has to respect the fact that other teams are fighting the Twins for the second Wild Card spot.
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"Minnesota is still in it," Yost said. "In fairness to all the teams in it, you can't throw a backup lineup in there. You gotta go. You gotta give it your best effort."
Yost isn't worried about his own team packing it in to rest for the postseason.
"I've never seen them take a mental break," he said. "They have pushed all the time. And they are still pushing now.
"We've just got to get these little nicks and dings out, and hopefully there are no major issues out there."
Catcher Salvador Perez is nursing a jammed thumb. Designated hitter Kendrys Morales has a tight quad. Lorenzo Cain has a badly bruised knee. Those three didn't start on Friday against the Twins.
Still, Yost has to make sure his club is completely healthy going into Thursday's first postseason game.
"Sunday [the regular-season finale] is going to be like the last day of Spring Training," he said. "I'm probably going to throw Johnny [Cueto] five innings because we need to throw Volqy [Edinson Volquez] a couple innings so he stays sharp. We got relievers you don't want to have more than four days off. So we're going to have to figure that out.
"But Sunday ... you can't just concede. You've got to try."
Holland has successful surgery
Closer Greg Holland underwent Tommy John surgery on his right elbow in Los Angeles on Friday and trainer Nick Kenney reported that there were no complications, and that the surgery went as expected.