Nick Loftin absent from Royals’ lineup on Thursday

Loftin’s home run was his seventh of the season. He hit a solo shot off Marlins reliever Tyler Zuber in the ninth inning. Loftin hit just .200 with one home run in 25 games in August. He’s hitting .237 with a .718 OPS and 41 RBI this year.

Rojas entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the sixth inning and drove in a run with a base hit. He then went yard for a two-run blast off Logan Allen in the eighth. Despite starting the day on the bench with a left-handed starter on the mound for Cleveland, both of Rojas’ hits came off of southpaws. The 32-year-old infielder doesn’t bring much upside, but should continue to play in a strong-side platoon at third base.

Loftin has been functioning as the club’s primary third baseman with Maikel Garcia (hamstring) shelved, but he’ll get a breather in this one. Josh Rojas will start in his place at the hot corner and will bat eighth for the Royals against Spencer Arrighetti and the Blue Jays on Thursday evening in Toronto.

He’ll presumably fill in for the duration of Michael Massey’s 7-day IL stint. Rojas remains merely a depth option for the Royals and has no fantasy value.

Loftin launched a three-run homer off Ty Madden in the bottom of the fifth that helped Kansas City pad a lead they wouldn’t surrender. He has operated as the everyday third baseman since Maikel Garcia landed back on the injured list earlier this week, and he’s been hitting leadoff against lefties this month. The increased playing time is something to monitor in deeper fantasy formats.

There simply isn’t a spot for Rojas with Maikel Garcia back from the injured list. The 32-year-old is merely organizational infield depth at this stage of his career. He hit .224 (17-for-76) with one homer and one steal in 30 games for Kansas City.

Garcia, out since June 23 with a hand injury, went 4-for-10 with a double and three walks in three games for Double-A Northwest Arkansas from Thursday through Saturday. His return will likely push Nick Loftin back into a utility role and result in Josh Rojas losing his spot.

Loftin was on base all three times up against Tarik Skubal. He’s hitting a solid .249/.336/.400, giving him the third highest OPS among the 12 players with 100 plate appearances for the Royals this season.

It looks to be nothing more than a routine day off for the versatile 27-year-old. Josh Rojas will man the hot corner in his absence and will bat eighth against Twins’ right-hander Bailey Ober.

The Braves wanted to add an outfielder who could start against lefties, and Thomas fits nicely there, as long as they don’t get overexcited and start using him versus righties, too. Thomas has an .800 OPS against lefties and a .660 OPS against righties this year. For his career, he’s at .850 against lefties and .669 versus righties. The Braves didn’t have to part with any top prospects, so it’s a solid pickup. With Thomas in the mix, the Braves might move on from Eli White. Isaac Collins and Josh Rojas should get more time in Kansas City with Thomas out of the mix.