Royals fans falsely accuse Byron Buxton of dirty play on Vinnie Pasquantino
By Josh Hill
For the second straight night, and the fourth time this season, the Minnesota Twins dominated the Kansas City Royals.
A 4-2 win on Tuesday for the Twins was much-needed from the standpoint of keeping the good vibes going and also closing the gap on the Royals in the AL Central. Kansas City came into the series with a sizable lead over Minnesota, one that has been cut down to three games.
The Twins can't overtake the Royals with a sweep, but it's clear who the better team is despite the lead in the division. It's only May but emotions are already running high between both teams and their fan bases, something that was evident after an unfortunate collision at first base.
Vinnie Pasquantino left the game with a lower left leg contusion after he knocked knees with Byron Buxton who was hustling out an infield single. Buxton was safe and thankfully came away unscathed -- which is incredible considering his horrid injury luck.
Pasquantino wasn't so lucky, as he needed to leave the game and has since been ruled as day-to-day with his injury. It didn't appear to be intentional, which would be extremely out of character for Buxton and seemed to be backed up by his visible concern after the collision.
Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino is exiting with a foot/lower leg injury after Byron Buxton beat out an infield single. Buxton put his arm around Pasquantino before he walked off the field.
— Bobby Nightengale (@nightengalejr) May 29, 2024
None of that stopped Royals fans from getting caught up in the emotion of the moment and getting truly weird on social media.
Royals fans accuse Byron Buxton of intentionally injuring Vinnie Pasquantino
Some Royals fans expressed their displeasure with the play and losing Pasquantino to an injury, while others got outright nasty with their comments toward Buxton.
Shame on Byron Buxton, maybe Cole Ragans or Carlos Hernandez will teach him a lesson.
— Royals Hive (@Royals_hive) May 29, 2024
Don’t care if that was intentional or not Buxton should get a fastball to the spine
— 643Royals (@643royals) May 29, 2024
#ByronBuxton needs to be fined and suspended for that INTENTIONAL play on Vinnie P. Hope he gets blacklisted from the league. I also hope the @Twins go bankrupt too. Thats messed up man.
— wes (@wesdabest99) May 29, 2024
Throw at Byron buxton
— Goatchi Agbaji (@GoatchiAgbaji) May 29, 2024
Dirty-ass play by Byron Buxton there
— It's Baseball Season (@DadBodTee) May 29, 2024
I will punch Byron Buxton if I see him dirty ass play
— max n' cheez (@maxthomm) May 29, 2024
Pasquantino is a key piece of Kansas City's lineup, and at the time it looked like a much more serious injury than it ended up being. Had the roles been reversed, Twins fans would have been equally as upset over losing Buxton but probably would have reined it in when it came to calling for Pasquantino to be injured as a form of retalition.
That's where this situation crosses into dark territory.
It's one thing to be upset about a player getting injured, but basic humanity being a casualty of getting caught up in the moment was disappointing. Nothing about Buxton's character or history suggests he's capable of purposefully injuring another player or participating in a dirty play.
Nobody can be faulted for having an emotional reaction to an injury, but there's a difference between being upset and being inapproriate. That's a line that got crossed on Tuesday night and made an already unfortunate situation even worse.
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