Gordon (shoulder) sits out his return to Nebraska

OMAHA, Neb. -- The man Nebraska fans wanted to see most on Thursday night at TD Ameritrade Park was not in the starting lineup -- former Cornhusker and Royals left fielder Alex Gordon.

Gordon was held out after getting hit with a pitch in Wednesday night’s game in Kansas City.

“What happened was he got hit in the shoulder, and it hit a nerve and it compressed the nerve,” manager Ned Yost said before his club's 7-3 win over the Tigers in the series finale. “But as the night went on it stiffened up.

“He’s regained some of the strength in that shoulder now, but I’m not going to push it. Didn’t want to [sit him], especially here, but I don’t want to take a chance of wearing him down to the point where we can’t rehab him back.”

Gordon said he understood Yost’s decision.

“It’s unfortunate to not be in the lineup,” Gordon said. “Being back here, I really wanted to play, but if this game was anywhere else, I wouldn’t have played, either.”

Gordon said the strength in his right shoulder just isn’t there right now.

“After like an inning [of getting hit], it hurt, but I tried to get through it,” Gordon said.

Yost said Gordon is having too good of a season -- 16 doubles, 10 home runs and a .932 OPS entering Thursday -- to risk anything.

“I might sit him again [Friday], too,” Yost said. “We’ll go day to day. But today, the smart move is to just let him recover.

“I wrestled with it all last night, and on the plane here. ... To all his fans, I’m sorry.”

Dozier close to BP

Yost also said Hunter Dozier (thorax injury) may take batting practice on Friday in Minnesota. He’ll start ramping it up then with BP on a daily basis.

“I’m hoping now [Dozier will be ready] for maybe Thursday when we get home from the trip,” Yost said. “I don’t know about rehab. But if he’s going to get a hit in Triple-A, I sure would rather have it up here, the way we’re going.”

Duda activated

First baseman Lucas Duda (lumbar strain) was reinstated off the 10-day injured list on Thursday, and third baseman Kelvin Gutierrez was optioned back to Triple-A Omaha.

Gutierrez, though, served as the 26th man for the Royals on Thursday.