Vinnie Pasquantino did something last seen in a KC Royals game 40 years ago
The ball hung in the misty air for what seemed to be an absurdly long time, but it wasn’t long enough for three Orioles players giving chase.
First baseman Vinnie Pasquantino capped a five-run eighth inning Friday night with a bases-clearing single as the Royals beat the Orioles 8-2 at Kauffman Stadium.
MLB stats guru Sarah Langs said the last time a Royals player hit a three-run single was 40 years ago.
George Brett did it on June 20, 1985, against the Minnesota Twins, and his single scored Buddy Biancalana, Willie Wilson and Lonnie Smith.
Pasquantino was told after the game that there had only been one such three-run single in the majors in all of 2024. Pasquantino matched that with a ball that had an exit velocity of 70.2 mph and traveled 239 feet before nestling in the wet grass near the foul line in right field.
That bloop single will look like a liner in the gap years from now and it brought home MJ Melendez, Kyle Isbel and Bobby Witt Jr. The last of them was the key to making that a three-run single.
“I like watching Bob run,” Pasquantino said. “I like giving him opportunities to run.”
Third baseman Maikel Garcia, who had three RBIs on Friday night said he’d never seen a bases-clearing single.
Manager Matt Quatraro agreed that it was a rare play.
“If it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen in a big ballpark like this, where the outfielder had to run a long way,” Quatraro said. “There was a lot of air under that ball so Bobby could get a good running start, but I’m glad Vance (Wilson, third base coach) sent him.”
Witt is one of the fastest runners in baseball and had an infield single in the first inning when he reached a speed of 31.2 feet per second.
That’s why Pasquantino wasn’t contemplating the unlikelihood of clearing the bases with a single as the play unfolded.
“I didn’t even think anything of it, because I know how fast he is,” Pasquantino said of Witt. “So I was like, two outs, he’s going (on contact). Like oh, sick, he’s gonna score. I didn’t even think, not that it’s a big deal, that it’s so rare.
“I’m gonna keep letting him run.”
This story was originally published April 4, 2025 at 11:04 PM.
