BOSTON -- Jac Caglianone found his way back into the batter’s box for the first time in a week in Saturday afternoon’s 5-1 loss to the Red Sox at Fenway Park.
The Royals slugger entered as a pinch-hitter and struck out in his only plate appearance against reliever Garrett Whitlock, who struck out the side for Boston in the eighth inning.
Previously, the 23-year-old took on-field batting practice before Friday’s series opener for the first time since suffering a Grade 1 flexor strain in his left elbow in last Saturday’s loss to the Blue Jays.
“He felt better today,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “We were hoping maybe there were a couple guys on base at a certain point, but knowing where we were with [Boston closer Aroldis] Chapman likely to come in in the ninth, we were trying to get something going there against Whitlock.”
Before taking a regular rotation with the last hitting group in batting practice, Caglianone also hit in the indoor batting cage and shagged balls in right field. Caglianone repeated the same routine on Saturday to see if he can get back in the starting lineup on the three-city road trip.
“We were hopeful for yesterday, but he took BP, [and] he didn't feel as well as we would have hoped,” Quatraro said before Saturday's game.
Caglianone slashed .411/.429/.684 with six home runs and 26 RBIs in August, earning him American League Player of the Month. Overall, the 23-year-old is batting .283 with an .825 OPS, 23 homers and 70 RBIs in 131 games this season.
How Quatraro will work Caglianone back into the lineup when the time to start again remains to be seen. If it’s as the designated hitter, Quatraro will have to figure out how to best utilize Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez.
“Yeah, we'll have to make a decision on how we get him in there,” Quatraro said. "It's certainly a good problem to have.”
Caglianone has not yet begun throwing with game intensity, but did make several throws back to the infield during Friday's batting practice.
“We're going to go hitting first, and then we'll decide based on that whether he starts to throw,” Quatraro said.