Salvador Perez, out Sunday with a groin strain, expects to be back in Royals’ lineup Monday

A right groin strain kept Royals catcher Salvador Perez out of Sunday’s series finale against Boston, but Perez vowed to return to the lineup Monday in Chicago.

“It’s nothing bad,” Perez said. “It’s just tight.”

Perez injured himself when caught in a rundown between third base and home plate on Friday night. He played through the discomfort on Saturday, but manager Ned Yost elected to let him rest for the subsequent day game.

Perez managed to take a few swings inside the indoor batting cages midway through the game. Brett Hayes replaced him behind the plate.

“I’ll start (Monday) for sure,” Perez said. “That’s like a day off.”

After the game, Yost also sounded optimistic about Perez’s prospects of returning.

“He felt better, much better,” Yost said.

Hosmer gets plunked

First baseman Eric Hosmer sported a protective wrap around his right hand on Sunday afternoon. Jon Lester hit him with a pitch in the first inning. Hosmer remained in the game and extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a sixth-inning single.

Hosmer said he did not expect to miss any time.

“It’s good,” he said.

Bueno a silver lining

There was little to enjoy about Sunday’s result. But left-handed reliever Francisley Bueno strung together 2 2/3 innings of scoreless work after replacing rookie starter Yordano Ventura.

The work of Bueno did not have any immediate aid to the team’s chances of winning on Sunday, considering its already sizable deficit. But with Jeremy Guthrie and Bruce Chen scheduled to start the next two days, Yost required as many available bullpen arms as possible.

This story was originally published July 20, 2014 at 5:56 PM with the headline "Salvador Perez, out Sunday with a groin strain, expects to be back in Royals’ lineup Monday."