One play may have just crushed Royals hopes for AL pennant

The Kansas City Royals not only blew a late lead in their 6-3 defeat against the Houston Astros on Thursday night but may have also suffered a huge blow in their historic push for the AL pennant.

Both power-hitting first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino and high-leverage reliever Lucas Erceg were forced to leave the team's loss in the eighth inning after suffering injuries on the same play.

The Royals announced on Friday that it was a near-worst case scenario for the 26-year-old " Pasquatch ."

Pasquantino was the No. 3 prospect in the organization when he debuted with Kansas City in June 2022.

After recording 10 home runs and 26 RBI across 258 at-bats as a rookie, the slugging lefty was limited to 61 contests in 2023 due to a season-ending shoulder injury suffered in June. Pasquantino has been one of the Royals' best hitters this year, leading the team in RBI with 97 (fourth in MLB) while ranking second in doubles (30) and walks (40) as well.

The former 11th-round pick has also been one of the best defensive players at his position in the AL in 2024. Pasquantino leads the junior circuit in fielding percentage for a first basemen (.998) and range factor per contest for the position (calculated by dividing putouts and assists by games played) at 8.50.

While there's no word yet on the severity of Erceg's injury, any absence would create a serious void in Kansas City's bullpen.

The 29-year-old is in his second big league season and was acquired in a deal with the Oakland Athletics just ahead of the trade deadline on July 30.

Erceg did not allow a run in his first 11 outings with the Royals before faltering the last two contests against the Cleveland Guardians and Astros on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.

After winning the first three tilts of a four-contest road series against Cleveland this week, Kansas City had erased the Guardians' season-high nine-game lead in the AL Central.

With the back-to-back losses, however, the Royals have fallen to 1.5 games behind the first-place club and are only two games ahead of the Minnesota Twins for the third wild-card spot.