Perez’s grand slam powers a rally as Kansas City Royals win series opener in Seattle
In hindsight, a bases-loaded walk, though unconventional, might have served the Seattle Mariners much better than challenging Kansas City Royals star Salvador Perez with an 85-mph sinking fastball.
Perez, who entered Thursday night with the fourth-most home runs in the majors this season, turned a three-run deficit into a one-run lead with one swift and powerful swing in the sixth inning that yielded a 418-foot blast for a grand slam.
He put his head down almost immediately, dropped his bat and began his trot as he moved one step closer to American League history.
“I hit it pretty good,” Perez said of his reaction. “Sometimes you know when you hit the ball hard. I knew that one was out of the stadium for a homer. It was early in the game too. ... Sixth inning, we’ve still got a lot of game left.”
The Royals added one more run after Perez’s game-changing homer, received some clutch relief pitching from their weary bullpen, got a home run-robbing catch by outfielder Andrew Benintendi and secured a 6-4 series-opening win over the Mariners in front of an announced 16,882 at T-Mobile Park in Seattle.
“What’s so impressive is that it doesn’t surprise you when he does it,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said of Perez. “That’s just such a great compliment, that this guy has been so consistent in those situations. Really to me, he had as much going on behind the plate and how he led us through a really difficult pitching day.”
The Royals hit grand slams in back-to-back games for the first time in franchise history. All-Star second baseman Whit Merrifield hit his second career grand slam on Wednesday afternoon in Houston.
Perez became the first AL catcher with at least 35 homers in a season since Ivan Rodriguez in 1999, and Perez moved to within two homers of Carlton Fisk’s single-season AL record for a catcher (37).
Mariners manager Scott Servais turned to reliever Joe Smith against Perez in the sixth inning with the bases loaded. Perez had gone 0 for 5 with three strikeouts against Smith.
“If I was them and I saw the numbers, you’ve got to do it,” Perez said. “He got behind in the count, 2-0 with bases loaded. He’s like OK, let me try to get ahead in the count. He left one fastball down the middle.”
Royals relief pitcher Richard Lovelady entered the game with a man on in a one-run game in the sixth guarding a one-run lead. He gave up an infield single which put runners on the corners with no outs, but then retired three consecutive batters (two strikeouts) to escape with the lead intact.
Veteran reliever Ervin Santana pitched two scoreless innings of relief to earn his 150th career win.
In the eighth, he benefited from a leaping catch by Benintendi at the wall in left field to haul in a deep drive by Jarred Kelenic. Benintendi made the catch with his glove above the wall to take away a home run.
Benintendi’s nonchalant reaction even threw Santana off at first.
“I didn’t know,” Santana said. “I was a little worried about it because he was slowing and then he showed it and I was like, ‘Thank you!’ It was a tremendous play.”
Scott Barlow, who threw 31 pitches in 1 1/3 innings on Wednesday, pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his ninth save.
Merrifield went 1 for 3 with a double, a run scored and an RBI. Nicky Lopez went 1 for 3 with two walks, a run scored and an RBI.
The Mariners jumped out to a 4-0 lead with three of their first four runs scoring via home runs.
Keller left the game immediately after he gave up a solo homer to Kyle Seager, and Royals reliever Joel Payamps gave up two additional runs in the inning on a two-run homer by Jake Fraley.
That four-run lead lasted until the Royals sent nine batters to the plate and scored five runs in the sixth.
Ryan O’Hearn and Emmanuel Rivera singled, Merrifield’s RBI double gave the Royals their first run and Lopez walked to load the bases for Perez.
In the seventh inning, Lopez closed out the scoring with a two-out RBI single into center field.
The Royals continue their four-game series in Seattle on Friday night. First pitch is scheduled for 9:10 p.m. Central time. The scheduled pitching matchup features Royals left-hander Kris Bubic (4-6, 4.94) against Mariners right-hander Logan Gilbert (5-5, 5.16).
This story was originally published August 27, 2021 at 12:54 AM.
