The Royals scored nine runs off Bryan Shaw and John Murphy in the eighth to win this one. Velázquez is hitting .208/.345/.250 in 29 plate appearances this spring. The Royals will likely carry him initially, since he’s out of options, but he’ll be limited to playing against lefties unless he can force their hand.

Velázquez suffered the injury while attempting to track down a fly ball near the right-field wall. The 26-year-old corner outfielder was 1-for-2 prior to exiting and is batting .125 (2-for-16) this spring in Cactus League play.

Velázquez was hitting .200/.274/.366 in 230 plate appearances. He’s cut back on the strikeouts a bit this year, but his power production has also dwindled, as his hard-hit rate had come in at 38%. Last year, he was at 48%. He’ll get another chance if he can fire in Triple-A, but with his lack of defensive value, he needs to provide a lot of offense to justify his spot.

Salvador Perez is the designated hitter for Sunday’s tilt against the Mariners, so Velazquez will retreat to the bench for the finale. The outfielder went 1-for-7 over the first two games of the series and has hit just .133 with a .544 OPS in the month of June.