Kansas City Royals’ catcher Sal Perez reaches 40-homer plateau in loss to White Sox
Kansas City Royals manager Mike Matheny recognized the fear in the eyes of his All-Star catcher and slugger Salvador Perez after he took a ball to the throat on Friday night.
Matheny, a former catcher, has taken those hits and he knew Perez had a scary moment between the pain of the impact and his momentary inability to breathe. Those feelings subsided. The beat-up and battle-tested Perez finished the inning before coming out of the game.
Saturday night, Perez got a day off behind the plate and served as the designated hitter. But when Perez stepped to the plate, he instantly transferred any fear or shortness of breath he’d felt the previous night to the Chicago White Sox, in particular their pitching staff and manager Tony La Russa.
Perez hit two more home runs in a 10-7 loss to the White Sox on Saturday night at Kauffman Stadium to bring his season total to a career-high 40. He drove in five of the team’s seven runs, and forced La Russa to go to All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel in the seventh inning.
Perez came to the plate in the seventh as the tying run, and La Russa called on Kimbrel to neutralize Perez and keep the Royals from swinging momentum with one swing.
Speaking about Perez, La Russa told Chicago reporters, “Craig had to be the guy to face him.”
Kimbrel got the crucial strikeout, but him even coming into the game in the seventh showed just how much of an impact Perez had on La Russa’s decision making.
“I see a great hitter. I see a hitter that has to be talked about as one of if not the most dangerous hitter in the league in how he’s going about these at-bats and doing it in big situations,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said of Perez.
Perez moved past former teammate Alex Gordon into sole possession of fourth place on the franchise’s all-time leaderboard with 192 homers. Perez now sits one behind Amos Otis for third place.
With 40 home runs, Perez has the second-most in a single season by a Royals player. He’d been tied with Mike Moustakas, who hit 38 in 2017, but Perez now trails only Jorge Soler’s record-setting 48 homer season in 2019.
Perez said reaching 40 homers was meaningful because it is a result of the work he started doing in October of last year with coaches and trainers after the pandemic-shortened season.
“I never thought that I could do what I’m doing right now,” Perez said of the milestone. “It’s God. I’m blessed to do what I’m doing right now. I don’t try to think about that. I just play hard every game and see what happens after the last game of the season.”
Perez has hit 26 of his home runs this season while playing catcher, and 14 as a designated hitter, as was the case on Saturday night.
Perez initially had been penciled into the starting lineup at catcher but was given an extra day off from behind the plate after he’d been hit in the neck. Perez described it as a “scary moment,” on Friday, and he had some trouble breathing that night.
Perez felt discomfort when he put on his chest protector Saturday, and the Royals moved him to DH and started backup catcher Cam Gallagher.
“It’s one of those days where you think we’re even going give him a day here and let the throat thing/neck kind of have a day of rest, and the next thing you know he does something that continues to just amaze us,” Matheny said.
Perez’s first home run, a two-run shot in the bottom of the third pulled the Royals within three runs, 6-3.
After the White Sox pushed their lead back to six runs again, 9-3, Perez struck again in the fifth inning. This time, his three-run blast with two outs with Whit Merrifield and Nicky Lopez on base made it a three-run game again.
“I think it’s just how much we need him in general, it’s pretty amazing that he’s so tough and plays the toughest position probably, where you get beat up the most,” Royals pitcher Daniel Lynch said. “Those are the kind of things I think about. He really just goes out there and does it for us every night.”
With his two home runs on Saturday night, Perez became the first catcher since Javy Lopez in 2003 with 40 homers in a season.
Perez also passed Toronto Blue Jays star slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for the second-most home runs in the majors behind Shohei Ohtani.
Perez now has 12 multi-homer games in his career, and six have come this season.
“I always say that I like to compete and try to do my job, especially with guys in scoring position,” Perez said. “It’s kind of like let’s bring them in, let’s try to help the team win.
“I’m ready to hit. It may be the first pitch, middle of the at-bat or the last pitch. I’m always ready. Sometimes you only see one pitch [to hit] and it’s the first one. You’ve got to be ready to hit. I don’t think about it if I hit one early in the game. I just try to do my job. It’s not like I’m looking for another one.”
This story was originally published September 5, 2021 at 12:17 AM.
