"Robinson Cano was back in the Yankees' starting lineup Thursday night after all neurological tests came back clean after being hit in the head by a Nate Adcock fastball in the fifth inning of Wednesday's game against the Royals.

Cano's head even was clear enough to joke about the oversized "Great Gazoo" batting helmet he found in his locker on arriving at the Stadium around 4:30 p.m. after getting final medical clearance to play.

"I don't know if I'm going to wear that. I don't want to look like (Francisco) Cervelli," Cano said of the Yankees' backup catcher, who has worn an oversized helmet in past years after suffering multiple concussions. "But you never know, it might have a lot of hits in it."

Cano committed a key throwing error on a potential double-play ball in Kansas City's six-run second inning of the Yanks' 11-5 loss.

"I should have took my time a little more. Those mistakes are simple mistakes, ones you don't want to make," he said. "It happened. They scored runs in the inning and I can't let it happen again."

He also clubbed his ninth home run of the season in the fifth.

Cano said he felt fine Thursday night.

Adcock insisted after Wednesday's game that he hadn't intended to hit Cano, who sat on the ground in the batter's box while being attended to by assistant trainer Steve Donohue. A.J. Burnett hit ex-Met Jeff Francoeur in the back one inning later.

"It was a little scary, but the good thing is I don't feel dizzy or anything and I was good the whole time," said Cano, who was removed from the game after being hit and underwent a CAT scan Wednesday night. "I told Joe (Girardi) I wanted to stay in, but they didn't want to take a chance. I got hit pretty bad."

Cano added that he had suffered one concussion earlier in his career, but he didn't have any trouble sleeping Wednesday and hasn't experienced any of the usual symptoms.

"The information I got is that he had his tests and they came back normal," Girardi said. "He went through his impact test and that came back normal, they raised his heartbeat on a treadmill and that came back normal. Everything is good.""