KANSAS CITY — A diving catch attempt in right field seemed to shake Jac Caglianone up a bit in the fifth inning of the Royals’ 3-2 win over the Giants on Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium, but even as Caglianone got up with a grimace, he waved off his teammates and the Royals’ staff to stay in the game.
An inning later, though, Caglianone was replaced in right field and out of the game with right shoulder soreness. On Wednesday, he was out of the lineup for the Royals’ series finale against the Giants at Kauffman Stadium.
“He’s sore,” manager Matt Quatraro said Wednesday. “He essentially jammed his shoulder joint. It’s similar to what he did in Minnesota [in June] when he ran into the wall chasing the foul ball. But just going to take a little time for it to loosen back up.”
With two outs in the top of the fifth inning Tuesday night, Giants catcher Jesus Rodriguez hit a pop fly perfectly placed down the right-field line, causing Caglianone to sprint over and make a diving catch attempt. He couldn’t corral it, landing hard on the ground but getting up immediately to fire a throw over to second base trying to get Rodriguez out at second.
Royals infielders Vinnie Pasquantino and Michael Massey immediately gestured to Caglianone to see if he was OK, but Caglianone waved them off and finished the inning. Given that it wasn’t his throwing arm, it wasn’t going to hurt Caglianone to finish the frame. But the Royals were worried about it on his swing, so they took him out of the game.
After Tuesday’s game, Caglianone also mentioned that it was similar to what he felt when crashing into the wall in Minnesota over a month ago. He exited the next day’s game and felt better after a team off-day. The timing for his return from this injury could be similar.
“We don’t think it’s any sort of serious injury,” Quatraro said. “But it’s a violent injury, and it takes time for that to calm down.”
