Nicky Lopez moves up in lineup as Kansas City Royals try to shake up their offense
Kansas City Royals manager Mike Matheny hoped that slightly shuffling his club’s batting order would help jump-start the team’s offense after they scored a total of just six runs in its last three games.
The Royals moved second baseman Nicky Lopez into the No. 2 spot in the lineup, hoping that his early success at the plate continues and provides a spark for the rest of the lineup starting with Tuesday night’s series opener against the Minnesota Twins at Kauffman Stadium.
With Lopez batting second, that moved rookie third baseman Bobby Witt Jr. into the No. 3 spot in the lineup in front of slugger Salvador Perez, last year’s major-league leader in home runs (tied with Vladimir Guerrero Jr.) and RBIs.
Perez slugged two home runs as the Royals won 4-3. Lopez was 2 for 3 with a walk and a RBI.
Lopez, a left-handed hitter, entered the game batting .348 with a .375 on-base percentage through the first eight games of the season. He’d been batting in the No. 9 spot in the order so far this season.
Last season, Lopez became the first Royals left-handed batter to bat .300 since Eric Hosmer (2017), and Lopez recorded career highs in hits (149), runs (78), triples (six), RBIs (43), extra-base hits (29), walks (49), stolen bases (22), batting average (.300) and on-base percentage (.365).
“We’re always looking for ways to get either guys or groups of guys going,” Matheny said before the game. “Our offense needs a little bit of a jump-start. We need to try to figure out ways to create a little more pressure. And Nicky is having, not just a really good start to the season, but a carryover from what he was able to do last year.
“So we’ll try to put him in a spot to maybe capitalize on the at-bats that he’s taking right now, his ability to get on base. Hopefully, that will generate more opportunities for the offense as a whole.”
Royals All-Star leadoff hitter Whit Merrifield has gotten off to a slow start and has batted .152 with a .176 OBP through the first eight games, while Perez has batted .188 with a .212 OBP along with two home runs. Merrifield was 0 for 3 with a walk on Tuesday night.
The Royals initially released a lineup with Perez behind the plate at catcher. However, they updated the lineup with Perez as the designated hitter and Cam Gallagher catching instead.
Matheny said Perez had been dealing with blurred vision, similarly to what he had during the 2020 season when he was on the injured list with left eye central serous chorioretinopathy.
Perez had fluid drained from the eye and was able to participate in batting practice and pregame drills without issue. However, he served as DH instead of catching Tuesday.
This story was originally published April 19, 2022 at 6:53 PM.
