KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ The Royals will navigate the final days of June without their shortstop.
The team placed Adalberto Mondesi on the 10-day injured list ahead of Thursday's series opener with the Minnesota Twins at Kauffman Stadium.
The move is retroactive to Wednesday. Mondesi exited Tuesday's game because of what he described as groin tightness.
"It was when I was sitting down in the dugout," Mondesi said after Tuesday's game. "After I ran, I was feeling good. But after I ran and all that, I sat down in the dugout (and) I felt it was getting tight."
In his place, the Royals summoned infielder Humberto Arteaga from Triple-A Omaha. To make room for Arteaga on the 40-man roster, the team designated pitcher Ben Lively for assignment.
Occupying the second or third spot in the batting order this year, Mondesi is hitting .269 with six home runs, a major league-leading eight triples and 44 RBIs. He also leads baseball with 27 stolen bases.
Arteaga's initial trip to the plate will be the first MLB appearance of his career. In his age-25 season, he was batting .292 with five home runs for Omaha. He has rotated across the infield _ shortstop (21 games), second base (19) and third base (16).
