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NEW YORK (AP) — Outfielder Alex Gordon was reinstated from the paternity list by the Kansas City Royals, who put right-hander Nate Karns on the 10-day disabled list because of nerve irritation in his pitching arm.
Gordon was in left field and batting ninth against the New York Yankees on Wednesday night after missing three games for the birth of daughter Joey Lynn.
Karns, bothered by a right extensor strain, has not pitched since Friday at Minnesota, when he felt a gradual buildup.
"In the fifth," he said, "I brought it to their attention, and we felt like the best move was to kind of remove myself from that situation and go from there."
His DL stint was backdated the three-day maximum to Sunday, which means he is eligible to be activated on May 31.
"He's feeling better," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "We knew he'd probably miss one start, maybe two, but not much more than that. We figured it would be able 10-to-12 days."
Kansas City will give Miguel Almonte his first big league start in Thursday's series finale rather than bring back Ian Kennedy on three days' rest. Almonte, a 24-year-old Dominican right-hander, made nine appearances for the Royals two years ago and is 1-0 with a 1.86 ERA this year in six starts and one relief appearance at Double-A Northwest Arkansas. He struck out 35 and walked six in 29 innings.
Speaking through a translator, Almonte said the Yankees were his favorite team growing up and he admired Alex Rodriguez. Almonte said he was told a couple days ago by pitching coach Dave Eiland he would be making the start.
"Are you serious?" Almonte recalled telling Eiland.
Yost said before Tuesday's game that a decision had not been made.
"We thought about bringing Kennedy back a day early, didn't really want to do that," Yost said Wednesday.
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