Things got ugly in Baltimore on Sunday. Bottom of the seventh, Orioles and Royals, and the tension that had been building all series finally boiled over. Lucas Erceg plunked Blaze Alexander right in the hand, just one pitch after giving up a home run to Samuel Basallo. Alexander didn’t take it quietly. He yelled toward the mound. Both dugouts and bullpens emptied. It was chaos.
Alexander left the game — replaced by Coby Mayo — and the Orioles later confirmed the worst: a non-displaced fracture in his left hand. He’s going to miss games. That part matters, because Alexander has been playing at an All-Star level. He entered Sunday hitting .312 with four homers, 29 RBIs, 12 doubles, two triples, and an .807 OPS. This isn’t some bench player getting plunked. This is a guy having a legitimate breakout season.
What Pasquantino Said
Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino — known around the league as “Big Foot” — had some thoughts afterward. MLB writer Jake Rill passed along what he said, and honestly, it’s a weird look. Pasquantino essentially said Alexander has no business chirping after getting hit in a 1-2 count. He argued the Royals wouldn’t intentionally put a guy on base in that situation. That’s fair as a baseball logic point.
But then he added this: “That’s a guy who’s hitting over .300 and is feeling good about himself that feels the need, when he gets hit, that he can say something. So credit to him for feeling good about himself like that.”
It reads like a backhanded compliment wrapped in some passive-aggressive frustration. Pasquantino did call Alexander’s season impressive. But the message was clear — he thinks Alexander overreacted.
Alexander’s Response
Alexander saw the quote. He didn’t let it sit. On X (the platform formerly known as Twitter), he fired back: “Weird take.. Never thought it was intentional but the 2 quick pitches to try and catch me off guard led to me now missing games. Thanks for the compliments tho Big Foot.”
So there it is. Alexander says he didn’t think it was on purpose. But the sequence — two quick pitches coming at him right after a homer — felt careless at best. And now he’s got a broken hand. The timing is brutal for the Orioles. They’re in the middle of a playoff race and just lost one of their most productive hitters for an unknown stretch.
Pete Alonso, Alexander’s teammate, tried to rally the clubhouse after the injury. But words only go so far when a lineup loses a .300 hitter with pop.
Royals manager Matt Quatraro didn’t have much to say about the incident postgame, and MLB hasn’t announced any discipline yet. But the tension between these two teams didn’t end when the series did. If these clubs meet again down the stretch — or in October — this one isn’t forgotten.
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