Gordon (shoulder) sits out his return to Nebraska
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OMAHA, Neb. -- The man Nebraska fans wanted to see most on Thursday night at TD Ameritrade Park was not in the starting lineup -- former Cornhusker and Royals left fielder Alex Gordon.
Gordon was held out after getting hit with a pitch in Wednesday night¡¯s game in Kansas City.
¡°What happened was he got hit in the shoulder, and it hit a nerve and it compressed the nerve,¡± manager Ned Yost said before his club's 7-3 win over the Tigers in the series finale. ¡°But as the night went on it stiffened up.
¡°He¡¯s regained some of the strength in that shoulder now, but I¡¯m not going to push it. Didn¡¯t want to [sit him], especially here, but I don¡¯t want to take a chance of wearing him down to the point where we can¡¯t rehab him back.¡±
Gordon said he understood Yost¡¯s decision.
¡°It¡¯s unfortunate to not be in the lineup,¡± Gordon said. ¡°Being back here, I really wanted to play, but if this game was anywhere else, I wouldn¡¯t have played, either.¡±
Gordon said the strength in his right shoulder just isn¡¯t there right now.
¡°After like an inning [of getting hit], it hurt, but I tried to get through it,¡± Gordon said.
Yost said Gordon is having too good of a season -- 16 doubles, 10 home runs and a .932 OPS entering Thursday -- to risk anything.
¡°I might sit him again [Friday], too,¡± Yost said. ¡°We¡¯ll go day to day. But today, the smart move is to just let him recover.
¡°I wrestled with it all last night, and on the plane here. ... To all his fans, I¡¯m sorry.¡±
Dozier close to BP
Yost also said Hunter Dozier (thorax injury) may take batting practice on Friday in Minnesota. He¡¯ll start ramping it up then with BP on a daily basis.
¡°I¡¯m hoping now [Dozier will be ready] for maybe Thursday when we get home from the trip,¡± Yost said. ¡°I don¡¯t know about rehab. But if he¡¯s going to get a hit in Triple-A, I sure would rather have it up here, the way we¡¯re going.¡±
Duda activated
First baseman Lucas Duda (lumbar strain) was reinstated off the 10-day injured list on Thursday, and third baseman Kelvin Gutierrez was optioned back to Triple-A Omaha.
Gutierrez, though, served as the 26th man for the Royals on Thursday.