Royals power up after Pasquantino's rain-delay shave

BALTIMORE -- In his own words, nobody needed the 57-minute rain delay between the first and second innings of the Royals’ 4-0 win over the Orioles on Saturday more than Vinnie Pasquantino.

First, he had been jammed up in his first at-bat, popping out in foul territory to end the top of the first inning.

Then, his glove had been broken on a line drive from Cedric Mullins in the first at-bat of the bottom half (he replaced it before No. 2 batter Adley Rutschman stepped to the plate). And then his jock strap broke. All in all, a rough first inning for the Royals’ first baseman.

So when the grounds crew emerged from the right-field corner and pulled the tarp moments before a deluge, Pasquantino was ready.

Into the visitors clubhouse he went, where Pasquantino fixed his glove and other equipment before marching into the showers and shaving his beard down to a mustache and soul patch.

"I’ve been awful, and apparently it’s Mustache May,” Pasquantino said. “I used eight razors, I cut my mole -- I was bleeding for a little bit -- but we got it done. … Nobody needed that rain delay more than me. I was able to get my glove back, I was able to get my cup right, and I shaved, so -- and we won. That’s all that matters.”

Though perhaps a fluke, the move worked and in the eighth inning, Pasquantino hit the third of the Royals’ three home runs on the night -- the club’s first game with three or more homers since Sept. 13, 2024. It was also just the club’s second multihomer performance this year (two homers on March 31).

The Royals were starting to see some sparks when they won nine of 10 games from April 20-May 1. The homers had yet to come, though, as Kansas City entered the month of May last in the Majors with 14 long balls.

It helped that -- even with the delay -- Kris Bubic was electric on the mound, delivering five scoreless frames and allowing just five baserunners (four hits and one walk).

Those three homers helped buck a trend that has been too prevalent of late for Kansas City: Excellent pitching, but a lackluster offense.

"[Our] pitching is ridiculous,” Pasquantino said. “... We just need to do a better job offensively and take the pressure off of them a little bit, because we’ve -- boy, we’ve kept the pressure on them all year.”

The Royals’ mini breakout started when, already up 1-0 on an RBI single from Maikel Garcia in the fourth inning, Cavan Biggio roped his first of the season -- and first with the Royals -- to right field with one out in the fifth inning. Like most of Kansas City’s crew, the at-bats have been solid from Biggio, though the results aren’t necessarily coming. But that home run is an excellent start.

"Biggio has had good at-bats without a ton to show for it,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “To be ready -- he’s generally patient, and that was a first pitch he was ready to hit. … I mean, that was great. To get from one [run] to two was huge. And then the two that we tacked on later were enormous.”

Next came the pair of eighth-inning homers off O’s reliever Seranthony Domínguez, who had yet to give up a home run this season. The first was struck by Kyle Isbel, who roped a second-pitch middle-inside four-seamer to right field, his second homer of the year.

Then, Pasquantino, who demolished a full-count fastball a whopping 422 feet to right-center, as projected by Statcast, with a 111.5 mph exit velocity. Pasquantino, while proud of the hit, was even more proud that he had worked Domínguez to that full 3-2 count before getting “his” pitch. And, beyond that, it was the kind of game he -- and the team -- need more of down the road.

"That’s what we need,” Pasquantino said. “We need more contribution from the whole team. It’s not a one-man issue, it’s not a two-man issue. Like, we got nine guys that need to be ready to go every night, and tonight was a nice step in the right direction. So we just got to keep going, keep working. The results will fall if we keep doing the right things.”