Royals Rookie Overslept and Missed Game vs. Twins, Carter Jensen Explains What Went Wrong

Kansas City Royals rookie Carter Jensen says he's planning to make some changes to his morning routine after he was scratched from Thursday's starting lineup due to oversleeping his alarm.

The Royals went on to lose 5-1 to the Minnesota Twins as Salvador Perez, who had previously been set to play at designated hitter, served as catcher until Jensen came in to catch the ninth inning.

"No running from it," Jensen told reporters after the loss, per MLB.com's Anne Rogers. "Just didn't wake up to my alarm. Slept through it. Don't really have an excuse, nor should I. It sucks. Happens. I felt like I let my teammates down, coaches down. Just learn from it and know it won't happen again."

Jensen continued, per Rogers: "There's a lot to learn from it. Making sure if I don't set one alarm, maybe set three, four, as many as possible.

"Moving forward, that's what I'm going to do. Set a million alarms. Make sure I'm up. It stinks, though."

Royals manager Matt Quatraro said after the game that the decision to scratch Jensen had been made because the 22-year-old hadn't arrived at the ballpark in time, per Rogers.

First baseman Vinnie Pasquantino told reporters Perez and the rest of the team had learned about the change at catcher about an hour and a half before the game.

"It's a growing moment. He's really young. There are some things that cannot happen, and that's one of them," Pasquantino said (h/t KSHB 41's McKenzie Nelson). "He's going to have to wear it on the chin, same way anybody would... I know he feels really bad. I know that it was not his favorite drive to the field this morning, but it wasn't our favorite morning, either, trying to figure out what was going on.

"So he'll learn from it, grow up a little bit. We're here for him, though. It's not like anybody's mad at him. Things happen. But you've gotta learn from mistakes like that, and maybe get another alarm clock or something."

The news that Jensen has no injury designation is ultimately good news for the Royals, who had featured the rookie in their lineup at either catcher or DH in each of the first five games of the season. Jensen had just recorded his first home run of the season in Sunday's win over the Atlanta Braves.