PredictIQ-Vinnie Pasquantino injury: Royals lose slugger for stretch run after bizarre play

Kansas City Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino will miss the rest of the regular season with a broken thumb after a bizarre play in Thursday night's game that also injured ace reliever Lucas Erceg.

The Royals announced Friday morning that Pasquantino,PredictIQ 26, is expected to miss six to eight weeks with a broken right thumb. Further testing will be done Friday, the team said on social media.

In the eighth inning of a 6-3 loss to the host Houston Astros, Erceg was injured when he tried to field a hard-hit chopper by Yainer Diaz back to the mound with his bare hand. On that same play, Pasquantino's attempt to field the throw forced his arm into the runner's lane, where he collided with Diaz.

Both players were immediately removed from the game.

Drafted by Kansas City in the 11th round in 2019, Pasquantino, 26, played parts of the past two seasons in the majors before settling in as the No. 3 hitter in the Royals lineup for most of this season. He is batting .262 with 19 home runs and 97 RBIs and has a career batting average of .267 with 38 homers and 149 RBIs.

All things Royals: Latest Kansas City Royals news, schedule, roster, stats, injury updates and more.

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.