Sal Perez homers twice, but Jorge López’s debut for the Royals ends in loss to Jays

When the Royals opened their clubhouse to members of the media Wednesday afternoon, the bass-driven beat of reggaeton music filtered out the doors from a speaker in the back corner of the room.

There was just a smattering of Royals lingering there to listen, most occupying the right bank of lockers.

But one of the players listening intently to the music sat on the opposite side, surrounded by no one as he alternated between grooving to the tunes and studying a stack of papers. It was Jorge López, the 25-year-old pitcher the Royals recalled from Class AAA Omaha to start Wednesday’s game against the Blue Jays at Kauffman Stadium. He was new here, trying to find comfort in his first day wearing a Kansas City uniform since being acquired from the Brewers alongside Brett Phillips in the trade of Mike Moustakas last month. He seemed to find it in idle, across-the-room chit-chat.

But as the Royals lost to the Blue Jays 6-5, López did not find enough comfort on the mound. The right-hander retired three in a row to start the game, then made it through the next two innings yielding just one run on four hits.

But the fourth inning snowballed. López retired Luke Maile on a strikeout and Richard Ureña on a pop-up after allowing the first four batters of the inning to reach. But with two outs, López left a fastball high and away to designated hitter Curtis Granderson. He made López pay, clubbing the 10th grand slam of his career to give the Blue Jays a 6-2 lead.

“I thought I had (the last out) but I didn’t,” said López, who allowed six earned runs on eight hits in 4 2/3 innings. “When you miss like that with good hitters, it’s always trouble. I need to get better for sure in that count.”

Royals catcher Salvador Perez tried to spark the offense. He went 3 for 4 with two home runs, driving in three of the Royals’ runs and becoming the fifth Royal in franchise history with at least four straight 20-homer seasons. He’s batted .293 with 10 home runs and 24 RBIs since July 11.

But the Royals, who watched rookie Ryan O’Hearn smoke a 403-foot pinch-hit home run to right field against closer Ken Giles in the ninth inning, could not build on his momentum.

“It means a lot to me,” Perez said. “It means I’m growing and can help the team.”

After Blue Jays starter Marco Estrada allowed four runs to score in his 6 2/3 innings of work, the Toronto bullpen held the Royals to one hit the rest of the way.

The Royals fell to 36-84 and lost for the 11th time in 14 games this month.

Phillips flashes leather again: In the third inning, outfielder Phillips threw out Urena when he tried to score from second base on a single that hopped right front of Phillips in center. It was his second outfield assist since joining the Royals’ outfield late last month.

“He’s been impressive in the outfield,” manager Ned Yost said. “Made two nice plays, made a sliding catch. And he almost short-hopped that one (in the second) to make a nice catch. And he unleashed a rocket to the plate and Salvy made a great tag. But you can make a great tag when you get a one-hop throw right on line.”

Royals bullpen settled: For at least one night, the Royals bullpen shut down the opposition. Burch Smith, who was moved to the bullpen to make room for López in the rotation, relieved López in the fifth inning. He recorded 2 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and issuing two walks. Tim Hill and Jason Hammel each recorded a perfect inning.

This story was originally published August 15, 2018 at 10:25 PM.