KANSAS CITY -- The Royals on Saturday reinstated left-hander Brian Flynn from his rehab assignment and optioned left-hander Richard Lovelady to Triple-A Omaha.

Lovelady, though, was still in the clubhouse Saturday morning and will serve as the 26th man for the second game of the doubleheader against the Yankees.

Flynn, who suffered a UCL sprain early in Spring Training, made six rehab appearances (two starts) and had a 3.57 ERA at Omaha.

Flynn¡¯s last outing came on Sunday when he threw 84 pitches in 5 2/3 innings.

¡°A lot of the rehab was just getting the arm going again,¡± Flynn said. ¡°There [were] still some kinks early on with a little pain [in the elbow] but they drew up a great plan for me, and once the pain was gone, it was just getting back to pitching.¡±

Flynn had made some mechanical adjustments early in Spring Training to improve his arm speed.

¡°Messing with some mechanics might have caused some [elbow issues],¡± Flynn said. ¡°So now I¡¯ve just tried to find a happy medium.

¡°The last two outings were good. I would have been comfortable throwing up here with the velocity and stuff that I had. Really got the ball rolling again.¡±

Flynn most likely will become the Royals¡¯ long relief option out of the bullpen, with perhaps the ability to be a swingman in the rotation.

¡°Starting was really fun, getting stretched out again, seeing guys three times through the order, sequencing and all of that,¡± he said. ¡°I was working on a changeup and that was good, but [I am] still sticking to mainly sinkers and sliders. That¡¯s who I am.¡±

Flynn said he feels fortunate the elbow sprain wasn¡¯t more serious.

¡°I literally felt it on the last pitch against the Angels early in Spring Training,¡± Flynn said. ¡°I never had any elbow pain before, so I thought it was just a little stinger. The next day I showed up, and I was really worried because it felt like what guys describe when it¡¯s not something good. I was in a holding pattern for a couple of days and really worried.

¡°But then I got into a throwing program, and each day it felt a little better.¡±