Royals 1B Vinnie Pasquantino (thumb) out 6-8 weeks

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, 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.

There has been no update yet on the extent of Erceg's injury.

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.

Erceg, 29, came to the Royals at the trade deadline from the Oakland Athletics. He had a 3.68 ERA with a 2-3 record and three saves through 38 appearances for Oakland in his second big-league season before notching an 0-2 record with a 2.63 ERA and five saves in 13 appearances out of the bullpen for the Royals.

--Field Level Media