During the fourth inning of Saturday’s game between the Royals and A’s, Brett Lawrie was drilled with a 99 mph fastball by Yordano Ventura, who was subsequently ejected by home plate umpire Jim Joyce.
On Friday, Alcides Escobar was injured as a result of a hard slide into second base by Lawrie. Escobar suffered a sprained left knee and called the play “dirty” after the game.
Lawrie attempted to reach out to Escobar after the game to apologize. However, Escobar never received the intended text message, perhaps because Lawrie received an old number for Escobar from Eric Hosmer.
Escobar was not in the lineup on Saturday and although Lawrie said his intent was not to hurt Escobar with the slide, what happened was just that. The reaction of the crowd at Kauffman Stadium indicates they were in agreement with Lawrie taking one in the side.
