KC Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar called Brett Lawrie‘s slide that sprain Escobar’s knee a “dirty” play according to a pair of tweets from San Francisco Chronicle writer Susan Slusser:

Lawrie did text Escobar last night and got a response. He showed it to me. Heartfelt apology for the injury to Escobar and (cont) — Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) April 18, 2015

(Cont) Escobar responded in Spanish: “That’s stupid, you did it on purpose.” — Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) April 18, 2015

Kansas City Star reporter Vahe Gregorian said that Alcides Escobar thought he had broken his leg:

Escobar says he indeed considered Lawrie’s slide dirty and notes he has not heard from him. Also says initially thought had broken his leg — Vahe Gregorian (@vgregorian) April 18, 2015

Alcides Escobar isn’t happy, apparently going back to last season. He says that Oakland outfield Sam Fuld did the same thing to him last season according to Slusser:

Escobar says Sam Fuld did the same thing to him last year while playing for #Athletics. — Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) April 18, 2015

All of this comes after Lawrie insisted that he wasn’t trying to hurt Escobar with this slide. He told Yahoo.com sports:

Said Lawrie, “I know [Escobar]. He was in the Brewers’ organization when I was, a couple levels ahead of me. That’s a guy I always say, ‘What’s up?’ to. When we’re out there, we always [talk] and wish each other the best of luck. No one’s trying to hurt anybody. That’s a situation in the sixth or seventh inning, in a tight ballgame, no one’s trying to hurt anybody there. I’m just trying to break up a double play.”

Wow.

Alcides Escobar and Brett Lawrie rose through the Milwaukee Brewers system together as minor league players before Escobar’s trade to the Kansas City Royals. But, I guess worrying about a broken leg can create quite a bit a friction even between people who know each other pretty well.

This Twitter exchange sounds a bit more testy than normal. Perhaps the Royals are a bit aggravated after getting hit by pitchers a league-leading 13 times as well as Lawrie’s hard slide.

Christian Colon is currently slated to replace Alcides Escobar in the KC Royals lineup for Saturday night’s game against Oakland, with the red-hot Paulo Orlando moving into the leadoff spot.

However, Vahe Gregorian reports that Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost thinks Escobar might be able to play:

Yost now says “expecting” Escobar to play tonight pending more testing — Vahe Gregorian (@vgregorian) April 18, 2015

The KC Royals do appeared concerned with depth at shortstop, since the team optioned recently recalled outfielder Reymond Fuentes to Omaha, and called up shortstop Orlando Calixte, according to the Kansas City Star.

Keep checking back with KC Kingdom to follow this developing story.