Vinnie Pasquantino calls out Emmanuel Clase for scary Jonathan India hit-by-pitch

The division rivalry between the Kansas City Royals and the Cleveland Guardians got a little heated in the late going of the Opening Weekend rubber match.

With the Royals down 6-2 in the bottom of ninth, Cleveland deployed superstar closer Emmanuel Clase to see this contest out. After recording two outs, Royals leadoff man Jonathan India stepped into the box and that's when things got dramatic.

After brushing India up and in around the chin on an 0-1 four-seam fastball, the very next pitch saw Clase throw a 99 MPH cutter in the same area, this time striking India in the side of the head.

India noticeably looked both hurt and upset and would have to be removed from the game. Clase, on the other hand, remained on the mound to finish things off, not without receiving his fair share of boos from the fans at Kauffman Stadium though.

It was an overall difficult way to end a shaky start to the season. But the Royals made sure their voices were heard on the way out.

Royals' Vinnie Pasquantino calls out Guardians' Emmanuel Clase

After the game, Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino vocalized his frustrations on the scary situation to the media.

One of his first thoughts was the odd pitch choice from Clase the offering before the incident, as the closer opted to throw a four-seam fastball, which he threw only once in the entirety of 2024.

Then, in regard to the cutter that caught India, Pasquantino shared how he understood the approach from a baseball perspective, but remained grounded in the harsh reality of seeing his teammate get dangerously struck.

"I get it, you're trying to let a pitch ride and it didn't, and it hit him right in the face after almost hitting him in the face the pitch before," he said.

"Obviously I'm upset by it, I'm more upset for [Jonathan] because we don't know what's going on with him right now," Pasquantino said.

However, amidst his frustrations Pasquantino acknowledged that he doesn't feel Clase intentionally hit India.

"Do I think there was intent behind it? Absolutely not," he said.

Despite his understanding though, he also took the time to air out some grievances with the overall approach the Guardians pitchers took during the series when it came to how many pitches the Royals saw inside.

"You've got to own the inside part of the plate [and] it felt like we were moving a lot this weekend," Pasquantino said. "I felt there was no adjustment made there and that's frustrating."

Despite the "sucky situation", as Pasquantino put it, all seems to be OK with India, as the Royals new leadoff man was back in the lineup for Monday's 11-1 thrashing of the Milwaukee Brewers. In the contest he went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in a pair as well.

Whether or not anything will materialize between the Royals and Guardians from this situation in the future remains to be seen. The two rivals next square off against each other in a weekend set in Cleveland from April 11-13.