CLEVELAND — Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer said a magnetic resonance imaging exam Friday revealed a small tear in his right rotator cuff.

“We’ll wait a couple of days and reevaluate,” he said. “Then we’ll do all of the testing and stuff and see how it feels. I think we’re going to wait until we get back to Kansas City (on Monday), then reevaluate and see what we’ve got.

Hosmer suffered the injury Thursday in Detroit when landed awkwardly on his shoulder after making a diving attempt to catch a grounder by Quinton Berry that turned into a two-run triple.

Manager Ned Yost characterized the injuries to Hosmer and shortstop Alcides Escobar, who suffered a bruised right shoulder in the same game, as “day to day.”

There would seem little reason for Hosmer to play again this season, but he didn’t rule out playing in the final series against Detroit, which runs Monday through Wednesday at Kauffman Stadium.

“I don’t know, to be honest,” Hosmer admitted. “We’re going to talk about that Monday. I guess we’ll see how I feel.”

The injury punctuates a disappointing second season for Hosmer, who finished third last year in the American League Rookie-of-the-Year balloting. He is batting only.232 with a .304 on-base percentage, 14 homers and 60 RBIs in 152 games.

Billy Butler again replaced Hosmer at first base for Saturday’s game against the Indians. Backup catcher Brayan Peña filled Butler’s usual duties of designated hitter.

Escobar getting antsy

Escobar was disappointed at Yost’s decision to keep him out of the starting lineup for a second straight day because of a bruised right shoulder suffered in Thursday’s 5-4 loss in Detroit.

“I’m ready,” Escobar said. “They want to be sure, but I’m telling you that I want to play.”

Escobar injured the front of his right shoulder while making a diving attempt to catch Jhonny Peralta’s looper into short center field in the seventh inning. The ball fell for a single.

Rookie utilityman Irving Falu started Saturday at shortstop and replaced Escobar as the lineup’s No. 2 hitter. Tony Abreu, another utilityman, filled those duties in Friday’s 8-5 loss to the Indians but shifted Saturday to second in place of Johnny Giavotella.

“Tony played short on Friday,” Yost said. “They’re both equally good at each position.”

The Lough down

Outfielder David Lough estimates he has roughly 200 family and friends on hand this weekend to support his first big-league appearance at Progressive Field.

“The stadium is about midway between home and where I went to school,” he explained, “so I’m getting people from both places.”

Lough, 26, grew up in Akron and attended Mercyhurst College in nearby Erie, Pa.

He started Saturday’s game, playing center field and batting leadoff, after grounding out Friday as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning of an 8-5 loss.

Lough entered Saturday with a .239 average and a .294 on-base percentage in 51 plate appearances over 16 games since his Sept. 1 recall from Class AAA Omaha, where he batted .275 with 10 homers and 69 RBIs in 130 games.

The Royals drafted Lough in the 11th round of the 2007 draft. That was the club’s first draft under general manager Dayton Moore and also produced Mike Moustakas, Danny Duffy and Greg Holland.

Chart climbing

Billy Butler has four more games to push his career-best homer and RBI totals higher on the club’s single-season charts.

His 29 homers are tied for the 11th highest total in club history. Steve Balboni (1986), Mike Sweeney (2000 and 2001) and Carlos Beltran (2002) also hit 29 homers. One more by Butler would tie George Brett (1985) and Chili Davis (1997) for ninth place.

Butler’s 107 RBIs are tied with Brett (107 in 1979) for 12th in franchise history – one behind Beltran (108 in 1999). There is a four-way tie for seventh (through 10th) at 112: Al Cowens in 1977, Darrell Porter in 1979, Brett in 1985 and Jeff King in 1997.

Alex Gordon’s 51 doubles lead the majors and match Butler’s 2009 total for second on the club’s all-time chart. Hal McRae had 54 in 1977.

Instructs update

Outfielder Bubba Starling went two for three with a double and a walk Friday in the Royals’ 7-5 victory over Cincinnati in an Instructional League game in Surprise, Ariz.

Starling, 20, was the club’s first-round pick in the 2011 draft and was cited as the player of the year this season at short-season Burlington after batting .275 with a .371 on-base percentage, 10 homers and 33 RBIs in 53 games.

The Royals finished their first week at 4-1. The 23-game Instructional League schedule runs through Oct. 19.

Looking back

It was 23 years ago Sunday — Sept. 30, 1989 — that Bret Saberhagen improved to 23-6 with a 6-1 victory at Oakland. The 23 victories remain a Royals’ single-season record.

Saberhagen, now 48, won his last six starts in 1989 and 14 of his last 15. His achievements were recognized in winning his Cy Young Award.

The Royals inducted Saberhagen into their Hall of Fame in 2005. He finished a 16-year career in 2001 at 167-117 with a 3.34 ERA in 399 games. Saberhagen was 110-78 and 3.21 in eight years with the Royals.

Etc. The Royals hold a 10-7 lead in the season series against the Indians with only today’s game remaining.

The Royals are 8-7 in extra-inning games.

The game lasted 4 hours, 52 minutes but was not the longest of the season for the Royals. Their 5-3 victory at St. Louis in 15 innings on June 17 took exactly five hours.

Billy Butler’s RBI single in the third inning extended his hitting streak to 10 games.

The 12 walks issued by the Royals were a season high. They walked 10 on July 13 in a 9-8 loss to the White Sox in 14 innings at Kauffman Stadium. That was the first game after the All-Star break.