Salvador Perez has career-high five RBIs in Royals’ 8-6 win over Tigers

Two days before the Royals’ 8-6 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night, Salvador Perez sat at his locker in a clubhouse in Oakland, forlorn and bathing in the frustration of a rare mistake. On the final day of a seven-game road trip, it was Perez who let a baseball slip between his legs on a strikeout, Perez who offered the pivotal moment in a 3-2 loss to the Athletics.

On Tuesday night, as the Royals returned home for another homestand, it was Perez who seemed intent on rectifying his error. He roped a two-out, two-run double in the third inning off Detroit starter Shane Greene. He clubbed a three-run kill shot off reliever Blaine Hardy in the fifth. He finished with a career-high five RBIs, an output that became crucial when the bullpen nearly imploded in the final innings.

“We never quit,” Perez said. “We play hard until the last out.”

Perez, who finished 2 for 4, posted his finest offensive performance of this young season. He also helped the Royals avoid calamity as a growing debate about the configuration of the Royals' relief corps reached full maturity.

The Royals led 8-2 after the fifth inning. They nearly collapsed after left-hander Danny Duffy allowed a three-run homer in the seventh and a struggling Joakim Soria loaded the bases with one out in the eighth. With former Most Valuable Player Miguel Cabrera striding to the plate, Royals manager Ned Yost turned to right-hander Kelvin Herrera, who survived the jam with an 8-6 lead intact.

Herrera struck out Cabrera on three straight sliders, plunked Victor Martinez on a breaking ball, and then ended the inning by getting J.D. Martinez to fly out to right field.

Herrera had already warmed up once in the seventh inning, and Yost said he pondered letting him pitch the eighth. Instead, he adhered to the unofficial bullpen roles that have been established in the early weeks.

“We win by our structure right now,” Yost said, answering a question about using Herrera in the eighth. “We don’t change our structure until we need to change. Our roles are set until we need to change our roles. So will we go back and look at it? Yeah, we’ll go back and look at it. We’ll talk about it as a staff.”

The events of Tuesday could put Soria’s status as the de facto eighth-inning guy in further jeopardy. Re-acquired during the offseason to bolster the Royals’ bullpen and offset the losses of Greg Holland and Ryan Madson, Soria has suffered from a combination of choppy command and poor luck. In seven innings across eight appearances, Soria has allowed six runs while striking out eight and walking five. He has also induced the weakest contact on the team, according to MLB’s Pitch f/x data, but a rash of balls have found holes.

On Tuesday he was hit by both issues again — shoddy command and bad luck — and Herrera was required to clean up the mess.

“Some of it’s location, some of it’s luck,” Yost said. “We think he’s really close to getting on a role, putting together some really nice consecutive outings. But right now it hasn’t been that way.”

During the season’s opening weeks, Soria has pitched the eighth, Herrera has emerged as the unofficial seventh-inning guy, and Luke Hochevar has taken on a versatile “fireman” role in the middle and later innings. The Royals may have to re-evaluate the bullpen alignment.

But for a moment, of course, they can focus on other things. They improved to 9-4 on the season, one game off their torrid early pace from a season ago, and 1  1/2 games ahead of Detroit. Wade Davis was his usual self in the ninth, working his sixth save. They were also whole on Tuesday for the first time, welcoming back Jarrod Dyson after he missed the season’s first 12 games while recovering from a oblique strain. Dyson finished 2 for 4 with an RBI while starting in right field and batting ninth.

“We just don’t give up or give in,” Dyson said. “We play hard to the last outs and try to put together tough at-bats.”

The Royals also improved to 3-0 in games started by Yordano Ventura, who picked up his first win of the season. Ventura allowed two runs and six hits while throwing 98 pitches in five innings, a promising night that was close to being something more substantial. In two starts, Ventura had allowed three earned runs in 11 innings. On Tuesday, he breezed through the first two innings, striking out Cabrera on an 88-mph changeup in the top of the first. Then things got more interesting. And his pitch count elevated.

Ventura work into a self-imposed jam in the third, handcuffed by his own costly throwing error on a play at second. The wobble helped load the bases with one out. But once again, Ventura buckled down under duress. He foiled Cabrera with another changeup, striking him out for a second time, then coaxed a pop up from Victor Martinez.

Ventura finally gave in during the top of the fifth, allowing two runs on a double from Cabrera. But he maneuvered out of another bases-loaded jam in the inning before giving way to Hochevar in the sixth.

Back at home after a day off on Monday, the Royals had snatched the lead with a pair of two-out rallies in the second and third innings. Dyson kicked off the first burst with an RBI single to left field, scoring Kendrys Morales from second base. The play included a rather aggressive “send” from third-base coach Mike Jirschele, but the Royals caught a break when Detroit catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia whiffed on the throw to the plate. Moments later, Alcides Escobar stretched the lead to 3-0 with a bloop single that scored Alex Gordon and the speedy Dyson, who had wound up at second on the previous play.

One inning later, Perez delivered the two-out damage, ripping a two-run double off Greene, who was tagged with seven earned runs. The inning nearly came and went when Eric Hosmer grounded into a double play with nobody out. But Morales extended the inning with a single, and Gordon gave Perez an opportunity by drawing another walk.

Perez came through once. Then came the fifth. Hardy, a former Royals prospect, hung a breaking ball in the zone. Perez would later shrug at the meaty location of the pitch.

“Good for us,” he said.

Perez took a big cut. The ball landed in the seats in left. The Royals had enough cushion to overcome more questions in the bullpen.

“It was a big night for him,” Yost said of Perez. “That three-run homer was huge. It was a game-winner.”

Royals 8, Tigers 6

a-flied out for Aviles in the 9th.

1-ran for V.Martinez in the 8th.

E: Ventura (1). LOB: Detroit 12, Kansas City 5. 2B: Mi.Cabrera (3), Moustakas (3), Hosmer (3), S.Perez (3). HR: Saltalamacchia (5), off D.Duffy; S.Perez (2), off B.Hardy. RBIs: Mi.Cabrera 2 (6), V.Martinez (8), Saltalamacchia 3 (14), A.Escobar 2 (4), S.Perez 5 (10), J.Dyson (1).

Runners left in scoring position: Detroit 6 (V.Martinez 2, Aviles 2, J.Martinez 2); Kansas City 2 (Hosmer, Infante). RISP: Detroit 4 for 11; Kansas City 4 for 10. Runners moved up: L.Cain. GIDP: Hosmer. DP: Detroit 1 (J.Iglesias, Kinsler, Mi.Cabrera).

Holds: K.Herrera (4), Soria (3). Inherited runners-scored: B.Hardy 2-2, K.Herrera 3-1. HBP: by Greene (K.Morales), by K.Herrera (V.Martinez).

Umpires: Home, Chris Guccione; First, David Rackley; Second, Larry Vanover; Third, Alfonso Marquez. Time: 3:08. Att: 26,889.

This story was originally published April 19, 2016 at 9:36 PM with the headline "Salvador Perez has career-high five RBIs in Royals’ 8-6 win over Tigers."