KANSAS CITY -- Vinnie Pasquantino needed a moment.

A mad dash from first base to home plate on Salvador Perez's first-inning double on Friday took nearly all of the oxygen the first baseman had in his body. So when he was ruled safe for the Royals’ first run in their eventual 7-4 win over the Phillies at Kauffman Stadium, he laid in the dirt for just a second, catching his breath before hopping up and heading to the dugout for high fives.

“I was about out of gas,” Pasquantino said. “I didn’t lay there because I wanted to.”

Pasquantino might not be what one would call a traditional “speed guy,” of course, but it’s been somewhat of a talking point over the past week or so after Under Armor sent him some new cleats. A new model that’s apparently “lighter” and makes him “faster,” he said -- with only a hint of sarcasm. On Monday night against the Angels, Pasquantino scored from first -- on another Perez double into the left-field corner -- after telling manager Matt Quatraro right before the game about the new cleats.

Friday’s sprint was a much closer play at the plate.

After Pasquantino knocked a base hit with two outs in the bottom of the first inning on Friday, Perez laced a double down the third-base line. With two outs, Pasquantino was running on contact, and when the ball shot past diving third baseman Alec Bohm and into the outfield, the 6-foot-4, 245-pound slugger put his head down and ran as fast as he could.

Pasquantino was rounding third by the time left fielder Austin Hays retrieved the ball in the corner of the outfield.

Third-base coach Vance Wilson started waving Pasquantino home, which was probably a good thing considering Pasquantino might not have been able to stop anyway.

“I wasn’t watching the ball, because I’m slow to begin with, [so] if I start watching what else is going on, and not just [Wilson], I get even slower,” Pasquantino said. “He was running down the line with me, and I told him after, ‘If you would have put up a late stop sign, I was running through it because there was no shot I was going to be able to turn around.’”

Pasquantino has learned to trust Wilson over the past few years by just watching his hands.

“A few years ago in Cleveland, he sent me, but he didn’t wave his arms,” Pasquantino said. “He just pointed and I looked at him. I’m running around third, like, ‘Are you sending me? Do you want me to run fast? Does this mean I’m in easy?’ So I’ve just learned with him [to] stay with him, watch his hands and he will lead me to where I need to be. And he did that tonight. So shout out to Vance.”

It was still an aggressive send and a bang-bang play, because Hays quickly got it to shortstop Trea Turner, who fired a strike to catcher J.T. Realmuto.

Pasquantino’s foot touched the plate just before Realmuto’s glove tagged him.

“Great send by Vance,” Quatraro said. “ ... Any time a Major League shortstop gets the ball in his hands, that’s a challenging read for a third-base coach, because they all have good arms and they’re all really accurate. Turner is no exception. Sending him there and sending [Hunter] Renfroe later [in the fifth], those were two really crucial plays.”

Pasquantino is just four RBIs shy of 100 on the year, with his bat serving as a key part of the Royals’ lineup and offensive production this year.

But don’t count out his speed.

“Vinnie’s got some speed, and no one’s throwing him out this year,” starter Michael Wacha quipped.