The Kansas City Royals are using a new lineup. Here’s how it’s working so far

When the Kansas City Royals promoted Jac Caglianone from Triple-A Omaha, they had to find a way to get his bat in the lineup.

Caglianone, 22, offered a new power element. The Royals, who scored one run in their final 18 innings against the Detroit Tigers last weekend, desperately needed to reignite their stagnant offense.

Royals manager Matt Quatraro switched things around. He moved Maikel Garcia into the third spot and bumped Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez down in the order.

The reason? Get the speed guys on base to score more runs.

“It’s a little bit different getting used to not knowing that I’m up in the first inning,” Pasquantino said. “Really no difference because those guys are on base all the time. Just more opportunities to try to do my job.”

The Royals scored 22 runs on 37 hits in the I-70 series against the St. Louis Cardinals. But the inconsistencies returned against the Chicago White Sox at Rate Field.

KC belted two homers in Friday’s series opener: Garcia and Pasquantino teamed up for back-to-back home runs. But the Royals scored no more in a 7-2 loss to the White Sox.

It was the second time the club produced consecutive homers this season. The Royals achieved the mark on May 4 against the Baltimore Orioles.

“We need balance and we need production up and down,” Quatraro said. “It’s nice when you get it from the middle of the order. You know, the two home runs got us the lead. We need to be able to extend the lead as the middle innings go on.”

The offense didn’t do enough Friday, but there’s reasons to think things are trending in the right direction.

Is the Royals’ new-look lineup working?

The new-look Royals offense has lengthened the lineup. Now, Garcia is the fulcrum at the heart of the operating machine. He is hitting .311 with an .864 OPS to lead the team in both categories this season.

Garcia welcomes the challenge. He hasn’t changed his approach but knows opposing teams don’t want to face the trio of Pasquantino, Perez and Caglianone.

“You know, don’t change my plan,” Garcia said on Thursday. “Just go and compete and don’t try to do too much.”

As a result, he is getting better pitches to hit. It’s allowed him to attack opposing pitchers and do damage at the plate.

On his home run, Garcia drilled an 89 mph changeup over the center-field wall. He tied a career-high with his seventh home run and 30th RBI this season.

The Royals’ new lineup also benefits Pasquantino. In the fourth spot, his sole focus is to drive runners in. After a rough start, he has been considerably better in recent weeks. It coincided with a career-high on-base streak of 22 games.

“Vinnie has been swinging the bat well for about six to seven weeks now,” Quatraro said.

Pasquantino leads the Royals with nine home runs this season. He has 31 hits and 13 RBI during his streak.

That said, the Royals needed more offense Friday night. The White Sox surged forward with five runs against KC reliever Jonathan Bowlan.

“It’s super frustrating,” Pasquantino said. “Just didn’t do enough tonight. Didn’t execute well enough.”

In the eighth inning, Luis Robert Jr. added a two-run single with the bases loaded. He finished the game 2-for-4 with three RBIs.

Bowlan walked four batters in 1 ⅓ innings. He issued consecutive walks to Austin Slater and top rookie Kyle Teel in the inning.

“It kind of got away from me a little bit,” Bowlan said.

The Royals (33-31) failed to respond late. The White Sox (21-43) snapped a 10-game losing streak against the Royals with the victory.

Eighth inning mistakes

Things unraveled for the Royals in the eighth inning. After failing to capitalize with two runners on base, the White Sox made the most of their opportunity.

Chicago took advantage of costly mistakes in the frame. Bowlan dealt with command issues and the Royals produced two errors that allowed runs to score.

Robert had the big hit in the eighth inning. From there, Royals reliever Taylor Clarke tossed a wild pitch and had a throwing error that went wayward of the first-base bag.

“They had some good takes down and away,” Bowlan said. “Other than that, I was getting soft contact and I was executing pitches. Just they had good eyes at that moment.”

It wasn’t the cleanest inning for the Royals. The loss was compounded by an offense that didn’t score after the third inning despite having seven hits.

What’s next: The Royals are back in action Saturday as right-hander Michael Wacha starts against Adrian Houser at 3:10 p.m. Central Time at Rate Field.

The Kansas City Royals are using a new lineup. Here’s how it’s working so far

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