A hit? An out? No, it's Pasquantino's first HR!

DETROIT -- Vinnie Pasquantino wasn’t sure quite what had happened. Tigers right fielder Willi Castro was left wondering as well. When the dust had settled, it looked as though Castro had cleanly thrown out Pasquantino at second base trying to stretch a single during the Royals’ 3-1 win on Friday night.

Except … it was a home run?

“I didn’t really imagine anything, but I’m really happy with how it went, and I think I’m a little bit happier that there was some drama involved with it,” Pasquantino said. “I got tagged out by Javy Báez on second base on my first career homer; that’s pretty cool.”

When Pasquantino connected on a first-pitch fastball from starter Michael Pineda, his line drive tore through the humid evening at Comerica Park at 112.7 mph, fast enough that Castro took just a few jogging steps on a diagonal before turning to, he likely assumed, watch the ball crash-land into the stands.

When the ball instead hit above the yellow piping atop the wall and spiked back onto the warning track, Castro scrambled to recover, and Pasquantino hit the gas around first base. Castro’s throw met him at the bag, and what should have been a triumphant moment -- it was, after all, the first hit of the Royals’ No. 3 prospect’s career -- seemed as though it would end on a sour note.

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Help came from the most curious of places. Tigers shortstop Javier Báez -- who’d just applied the tag to get Pasquantino “out” at second base -- put up his hand in a “hold on” gesture to the rookie, cautioning him not to leave the bag just yet as he climbed to his feet, presumably to make his way to the dugout.

Before second-base umpire Manny Gonzalez had even finished signaling that Pasquantino was out, Báez was twirling his pointer finger skyward at Pasquantino, the universal signal for home run. Moments later, Gonzalez agreed, and Báez ushered the rook on toward third as he took a few hesitant steps toward the next bag.

The Royals’ dugout, which had gone wild with the initial hit then gotten quiet as the play at second unfolded, again roared its appreciation for its newest star. Bobby Witt Jr. threw his hands high to call for the ball before pounding emphatically on the padded railing and bouncing toward the steps to be one of the first to congratulate his fellow rookie.

Slow-motion review showed that the ball struck above the yellow line at the top of the outfield wall, indicating a home run, and Pasquantino and the Royals soon celebrated it as such with a gauntlet of high fives and fist bumps in the visitor’s dugout.

“I wish he could’ve kept his pants clean. You don’t want to see a guy on his first homer have to slide,” manager Mike Matheny deadpanned. “It’s a shame because it took away from it a little bit; all the confusion, but that ball was blistered. He smoked it. … For the ball to get out at that trajectory, there’s not many guys who hit it like that.”

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In addition to being Pasquantino’s first MLB hit and home run, the ball was the third-hardest hit by a Royal this season.

Three pitches later, Pasquantino’s teammate, Hunter Dozier, crushed a no-doubter that landed neatly into the visitor’s bullpen in left-center field. It marked the second time this season Kansas City homered back-to-back, and the first since Witt Jr. and Dozier went deep in tandem on May 23 against the D-backs.

The two-run frame -- plus an RBI single from Andrew Benintendi in the third inning -- was more than enough offense to back starter Brad Keller, who kept the Tigers off the board through six-plus strong innings for his second win in his past three tries.

After an overwhelming reception in his MLB debut followed by a nerve-wracking first two career games without a hit, Pasquantino made doubly sure on Friday that his first knock was a memorable one.

“If you watch the video, the umpire is holding up a fist saying that I'm out, so that’s why I slid,” Pasquantino said. “I’m just trying to play hard and follow the rules that I’m supposed to. … It’s a really funny moment, and I’m never going to forget it.

“I’m glad we live in an age where that was captured so I’ll be able to show my grandkids my first-ever hit in the Major Leagues, I sprinted to second base and slid into second and got tagged out.”