Royals’ lineup for Cactus League game

Alcides Escobar flew back to Miami to be with his wife for the birth of their child. Otherwise, for their first Cactus League game on Thursday afternoon, the Royals wrote out a lineup basically identical to the one expected on March 31 in Detroit.

Here it is, as Bruce Chen faces the Rangers and Yu Darvish:

1. Nori Aoki, RF.

2. Omar Infante, 2B.

3. Eric Hosmer, 1B.

4. Billy Butler, DH.

5. Alex Gordon, LF.

6. Salvador Perez, C.

7. Mike Moustakas, 3B.

8. Lorenzo Cain, CF.

9. Pedro Ciriaco, SS.

Danny Duffy will follow Chen on the mound.

This story was originally published February 27, 2014 at 9:20 AM with the headline "Royals’ lineup for Cactus League game."