What It Means:

Conforto will hit out of the seventh spot in the order with Lagares ninth. Yoenis Cespedes slides back over to left field while Michael Cuddyer takes a seat on the bench.

Royals starter Johnny Cueto has shown reverse splits throughout the year with a 4.14 xFIP against righties compared to 3.41 against lefties. For this reason, it may be a bit surprising that the team chose to deploy Conforto over Cuddyer. At the same time, it's difficult to keep Conforto out of the lineup too long after posting a 40.9 hard-hit rate in the regular season, even if he is mired in an 0-for-16 slump.