Royals manager Ned Yost weighed the options.
Give guys like Jorge Soler, who led the team with a .375 on-base percentage, a chance to set the tone for the game from the two-spot in the lineup or leave Whit Merrifield, whose 11 hits ranked second on the team, there instead. Continue with a lineup that through 10 games had averaged .188 with runners in scoring position and batted a combined .222, or shuffle it around.
Yost chose the latter on Thursday at Kauffman Stadium, where the Los Angeles Angels arrived for a four-game series with two-way player Shohei Ohtani in the lineup for a second consecutive day.