Vinnie Pasquantino Gets Real About Offensive Struggles

The Kansas City Royals cannot score runs right now, and first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino isn't pretending otherwise.

After a 4-2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday, their sixth straight defeat, Pasquantino didn't sugarcoat where things stand with the offense.

"I mean, we need some balls to fall. We need to get some balls over the fence," Pasquantino said. "(It was) just kind of a combination of everything, right? (We're) putting the ball in play, not getting the results we want right now."

Saturday at Busch Stadium was another game where the Royals did just enough to hang around but not enough to actually win.

They collected eight hits and drew three walks against Cardinals pitching and still only managed to push two runs across.

That has basically defined the last couple weeks for Kansas City.

Pasquantino chipped in an RBI single in the fifth that tied things at 1-1, but the Cardinals came right back with two in the bottom half and tacked on another in the eighth.

Jac Caglianone went deep in the ninth to make it 4-2, but a double play grounder ended it before the lineup could turn over.

Kansas City left 18 runners on base through the first two games of the I-70 series.

That pretty much sums up where things are for an offense that keeps getting on base without doing enough with it.

It goes beyond one game for Pasquantino too.

He hit .264 with 32 homers and 113 RBI during a breakout 2025 campaign, and the Royals were counting on more of that when they signed him to a two-year, $11.1 million extension.

So far, it hasn't gone that way.

Through roughly 40 games he's sitting around .200 with five home runs and a .640 OPS, a significant step back from what Kansas City expected.

He still bats behind Bobby Witt Jr. and Salvador Perez, but the Royals need more from that spot in the order.

Last year he was one of the most productive first basemen in the league.

If they want to climb back into the race, Pasquantino has to start looking like that version of himself.

At 19-27, the Royals sit in last place in the American League Central and have lost 17 of their first 23 road games, the second-worst mark in baseball.

Both the pitching and offense have been problems at different points this year, and the six-game losing streak has made everything feel a lot more urgent than it did a couple weeks ago.

Pasquantino isn't ducking any of it.

"I feel like a broken record," he said, "but you've just got to look in the mirror, keep your head up and keep working."

The Royals wrap up in St. Louis on Sunday afternoon, trying to avoid the sweep and find something to build on.