UPDATE:
Brett Lawrie just got thrown at again by Kelvin Herrera, who was ejected -- as he should've been. Enough of this crap. Grow the hell up.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) April 19, 2015The saga between the A's and Royals continued Sunday when Oakland pitcher Scott Kazmir hit Lorenzo Cain in the lower leg.
Both benches were warned and Royals manager Ned Yost and pitching coach Dave Eiland were ejected when they stormed onto the field.
The #Royals have been hit by 14 pitches already this season, and the Royals are sick of it, with Ned Yost and Dave Eiland getting ejected.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) April 19, 2015The rift between the two teams started Friday when A's third baseman Brett Lawrie slid cleats up into second base, catching Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar in the knee. Escobar has been kept out of the last two games, and the team is hoping he can avoid a disabled list stint.
On Saturday, Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura intentionally hit Lawrie and yelled at him as he got up, resulting in a benches-clearing altercation, but no punches were thrown.
Lawrie tried to apologize to Escobar following the incident, but the shortstop didn't recognize the attempt.
"I reached out to him [Friday] night in a text message, and he got it," said Lawrie via MLB.com. "I have the text message. I did reach out to him, and I sent a number of paragraphs and he messaged me back and he didn't really seem to care about my apology to him. He actually said it was stupid and that it was intentional.
"He actually thought I did it on purpose, and I sent him another message back and said, 'I'm never out to get anyone, man. I've known you since Milwaukee. Every time I see you, we wish each other best of luck.' I'm the one who extended myself out there."
From Escobar: "No, he don't say nothing. I don't hear nothing from him. Yeah, I'm surprised because when you do a guy like that you say, 'My bad.' He don't say nothing. I don't know why."