Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino will miss 6-8 weeks due to broken thumb after disastrous play

On Thursday, the Kansas City Royals lost to the Houston Astros — and it all came down to one disastrous play. As a result, the Royals will also be missing their first baseman for potentially the next two months.

First baseman Vinnie Pasquantino will miss 6-8 weeks due to a broken right thumb, the Royals announced Friday. He sustained the injury when a throw from reliever Lucas Erceg hit the outside of his glove.

Kansas City fell to the Astros 6-3 after giving up four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning in Houston. The first of the four runs came off a failed barehanded catch-turned-failed throw to first, which left Erceg and Pasquantino injured and forced them both to exit early.

With one play, the Royals lost their first baseman, their reliever, the lead and, later, the game.

Pasquantino made his MLB debut in 2022 with the Royals, and became Kansas City's starting first baseman this season. His injury is likely to keep him out at least through the end of the regular season and likely into the playoffs if the Royals qualify.

A decision on surgery hasn't yet been made while the thumb was too swollen to examine properly, according to MLB.com's Anne Rogers. Pasquantino will meet with a surgeon this week and hopes his season isn't over.)

Erceg's injury status has not been announced, but his injury did not appear as severe.

It's a tough blow for the Royals, who are 75-60 and are only 1.5 games back from the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central entering Friday. Kansas City is still in wild-card position but will need to stay strong the rest of the season to secure a playoff spot — and will now need to do so without its starting first baseman.

The team has three games remaining in the series against the Astros before returning home for a series against the Guardians.