Salvador Perez takes his aggression out on Tigers in Royals’ 8-2 victory

In a baseball era of patience, Salvador Perez embodies the counterculture. In a time where on-base percentage is revered and plate discipline is worshipped, where at-bats grind on and on, Perez prefers a different method.

“If I see it close, I’m swinging,” Perez will say. “You guys know me: I like to swing.”

The Royals are the least patient team in baseball, and Perez is their free-swinging king. He hacks at pitches in the zone. He reaches for pitches out of it. As Wednesday began, he had swung at 57.3 percent of the pitches he’d seen in 2017. In baseball, only three players had swung at more.

Sometimes, of course, the philosophy can backfire. Perez will swing wildly at a pitch outside the strike zone, and his bat goes flailing, and everyone in the park will wonder why he decided to offer. But then there are moments like Wednesday night at Comerica Park, in an 8-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers.

On a 3-0 count in the top of the fourth inning, Detroit starter Daniel Norris threw a 94 mph fastball. Perez did not come to the plate to draw a walk, so he unleashed a compact swing. The result was a two-run blast that thudded off a brick facade in deep left-center field, 451 feet from home plate, the 16th homer of Perez’s season.

“I didn’t feel it out of my hands,” Perez would say.

The titanic shot provided a 3-0 lead. Royals manager Ned Yost called it “a bomb.” First baseman Eric Hosmer, who was on first base at the time, tracked the ball with a bit of awe.

“It was a good angle to watch it,” he said.

The moment was an apt summation of Perez’s talents. A walk would have been prudent. But the Royals recognize what their catcher can do with one swing. So they offer him the green light on 3-0, even with his history of chasing.

“I feel he’s got the chance to do some damage,” Yost said “We’ve been utilizing the 3-0 green light for a number of guys and it paid off tonight.”

One batter later, Mike Moustakas ripped his 20th homer into the seats in right field, becoming the seventh Royal in franchise history to reach the mark before the All-Star break. The power display offered support to starting pitcher Ian Kennedy, who posted his second quality start in three games and notched his second win of the year.

“One homer is good,” Perez said. “And back-to-back feels better.”

The Royals (38-38) tied the series at a game apiece entering the finale on Thursday afternoon. Kennedy allowed two runs in seven innings, his longest outing since April 22. The damage came on solo homers from Alex Avila and Miguel Cabrera. In the end, he lowered his ERA to 4.72 following a uneven stretch in May and early June. For one night, he relied on a buffet of curveballs to keep the Tigers off balance.

“I noticed that (Perez) kept calling it,” Kennedy said of his breaking ball. “And I said: ‘Is it good today or something?’ And he said: ‘Yeah, it’s good. Keep going.’ ”

By late Wednesday, the victory had kept alive hopes of a sixth straight series win. To do so, the Royals must beat Detroit’s Michael Fulmer with rookie starter Jakob Junis on the mound. On paper, the matchup does not favor them. Yet their offense revved its engines Wednesday night, resembling the unit that eviscerated opponents on a West Coast road trip earlier this month.

On a day in which Jorge Soler rejoined the lineup, taking the place of Cheslor Cuthbert, who landed on the 10-day disabled list, shortstop Alcides Escobar recorded three hits and Alex Gordon notched a season-high three RBIs. Soler added an RBI single in the ninth.

Escobar raised his season average to .221 while extending his hitting streak to nine games. In his last four games, he is nine for 15. The production at the bottom of the order has supplemented consistency at the top.

“For me,” Yost said. “Esky and Gordy at the bottom of the order were huge.”

As Kennedy pitched deep into the night, he received a sensational assist from Hosmer in the fifth. With two runners on base and two outs, Detroit’s Ian Kinsler hit a grounder toward Moustakas at third. He fielded the ball just in front of the infield grass, uncoiling a long throw that skidded across the infield. Hosmer sensed it would be a short hop, so he took a step backward behind the first-base bag and snared the baseball, a world-class pick that ended the inning and saved Kennedy’s pitch count.

“It was going to be a tough hop,” Hosmer said. “So I just tried to basically create as much space as I could.”

By the eighth, Kennedy handed the ball to the Royals’ bullpen. The offense would tack on insurance runs in the eighth and ninth.

One of those came via the bat of Perez. In the ninth inning, he roped an RBI double to left-center field.

He swung at the first pitch he saw.

Royals 8, Tigers 2

This story was originally published June 28, 2017 at 9:07 PM with the headline "Salvador Perez takes his aggression out on Tigers in Royals’ 8-2 victory."