BALTIMORE, Md. — As the Kansas City Royals celebrated their first playoff series win since 2015 Wednesday night, two former Old Dominion stars were a big part of the crowd.
Second-year manager Matt Quatraro and first baseman and designated hitter Vinnie Pasquantino took it all in as the visitors clubhouse at Oriole Park at Camden Yards transformed into a party.
"You don't get to do this every day," said Quatraro. "When you look around this room at all the energy that's been poured in here, to be a part of this ride is really special."
"This is incredible," added Pasquantino. "This is what you play for, so we're just really excited, we're taking it all in. I couldn't be more excited that right now."
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Pasquantino has a lot to be excited about. After missing several weeks with a thumb injury, he returned for Tuesday's series opener. Wednesday saw the former Monarch go 2-for-4 at the plate with an RBI and a walk in Kansas City's 2-1 win over the Orioles. He played in a career-most 131 games this season and has become a staple of the Royals' line-up.
"How can it not be special for him?," Quatraro said. "To get him back and to be a big part of this, couldn't feel any better for him."
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As for Quatraro, he engineered a 30-game turnaround for the Royals after the club lost 106 games in 2023. Kansas City's pitching guided it to low-scoring wins in the series and now the run continues for the former Monarch-turned-skipper.
"The guy's a legend," Pasquantino smiled while discussing his manager. "He's like the best hitter ever to come out of [Old Dominion] and now he's just doing it on this stage as a manager."
"I never would've thought about this in a heartbeat," added Quatraro. "I thought I would've been playing here, maybe, but never get to do this. We won a ton of games down there. It got me ready for this."
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Quatraro was an All-American first baseman for the Monarchs and suited up in the silver and blue from 1993-1996. Pasquantino would come along decades later, playing for Chris Finwood from 2017-2019 and was one of the top offensive players on the squad.
Now both hope this is just the beginning. The Royals took care of step one with the wild card win and hope they have several more series victories left in the tank.
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"This is what we had in mind, right? Celebrating," noted Pasquantino. "We're doing it now, we're going to enjoy it, but we're not done yet. We've still got some other things to take care of."
The Royals will meet the Yankees in the best of five American League Division Series. Game one is set for Saturday in New York.
