KC Royals center fielder Michael A. Taylor makes presence felt in return from IL

The Kansas City Royals got back their Gold Glove-winning center fielder Michael A. Taylor after a stint on the COVID injury list this weekend, and he had a hand in a little bit of everything — offensively, defensively and inadvertently in a ninth-inning ejection — in Sunday’s series finale with the Houston Astros.

Royals manager Mike Matheny had said that the club would play it day-by-day as far as how Taylor’s body responded to returning to the lineup after having missed 14 games and playing in two minor-league games this past week on a rehab assignment.

Taylor’s first game back in the lineup was Saturday, but he started again on Sunday and went 2 for 3 with a run scored and a walk. He also made his presence felt defensively in the middle of the field as he tracked down several fly balls in center field to help minimize any potential damage with rookie starter Jonathan Heasley on the mound.

“Obviously, there was some really good defense behind me, (Taylor) running down some amazing catches,” Heasley said. “It’s always nice having guys like that out there in center field. It just makes you a little more confident out there, knowing that you’ve got a strong defense behind you and knowing you can pitch to contact.”

Taylor went on the IL on May 19, and he’d been away from the team until the club activated him prior to Friday’s first game of the homestand.

“I feel really good,” Taylor said. “I’m happy with the way my body is feeling right now, energy level. I feel like I have my legs under me, so I feel like I’m in a good spot.”

Taylor, who entered Sunday leading all Royals batters in hitting with runners in scoring position (.308 batting average and a .406 on-base percentage), said he hit off of a machine to adjust to high velocity before he went on his rehab assignment.

“I got pretty sick, so I was down for about four or five days,” Taylor said. “Then I slowly worked my way back after that.”

Late-game fireworks

Taylor was at the plate with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning when Astros pitcher Ryan Pressly got ejected after throwing two pitches inside off the plate that barely missed hitting Taylor.

Astros catcher Martin Maldonado, a former Royal, had to restrain Pressly and push him toward the dugout as he yelled at the umpires.

Royals pitchers had hit two Astros batters, cleanup hitter Yordan Alvarez and highly regarded rookie shortstop Jeremy Pena, with pitches earlier in the game.

Asked by a reporter if he thought Pressly was throwing at him, Taylor turned the question back to the reporter and said, “What do you think?”

When the reporter said he wasn’t sure, Taylor coyly said he also wasn’t sure.

As far as the ejection, Taylor said, “I don’t know what the ejection (was for). He gave him the warning. So he’s still in the game. I don’t know what he said to him after he gave him the warning. I think that more so is why he got ejected. But that’s probably a better question for (home plate umpire) Vic (Carapazza).”

Jerry Meals, the crew chief of the umpires assigned to the game, told a pool reporter that the ejection was triggered by Pressly arguing with the umpires.

“I’ll give it to you short and sweet: he missed twice throwing at Michael Taylor,” Meals said. “After the second one, we got together — because that’s the way MLB wants us to handle it — and we decided to issue warnings. After the warnings were issued, Pressly argued the warnings and he was ejected.”

After the ejection, Taylor walked and eventually scored.

The Royals trailed by four runs going into the ninth. Taylor reached with two outs and the Royals ultimately brought the go-ahead run to the plate before the game ended on an infield grounder by Nicky Lopez.