Salvador Perez shows off ‘clutch gene’ with timely home runs for Kansas City Royals
Kansas City Royals star catcher Salvador Perez hadn’t homered in nearly a week. In this, his season of unprecedented power and hot streaks that have lasted for entire road trips and power surges go on for entire months, a week that had almost become unthinkable.
Of course, all it took was another pivotal situation to spark that natural flare for the dramatic or ability to rise to the moment that rests in Perez.
Perez’s 43rd home run of the season gave the Royals their first win of the night in a game they trailed by as many as six runs, and that home run also provided the winning run as the Royals rallied to beat the Oakland Athletics 10-7 on Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium.
Of his 43 home runs this season, 15 (34.9%) have given the Royals a lead. That’s the third-most homers in the majors this season by a player to give his team a lead behind the St. Louis Cardinals’ Nolan Arenado (17) and the Los Angeles Angels’ Shoehei Ohtani (16).
“Physically, he’s just staying strong, which allows his swing to fall into place,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “Then it falls to confidence. When you’re talking about these situations, that’s mostly confidence. I don’t know if there’s a more confident player in the league than Salvador Perez when the game is on the line.”
After all, Perez had delivered late in games, to walk-off games, to put his team ahead, you name it and he’d done it. Grand slams? How about in back-to-back games.
Perez’s 420-foot smash to left field put the Royals ahead for the first time in the sixth inning. The three-run blast completed a rally that started with the Royals trailing by six runs before their offense had even gotten started.
The Oakland Athletics grabbed a 6-0 lead in the top of the third inning, and dared the Royals to overcome that deficit.
The Royals chipped away with three runs in the third and another in the fourth to make it a two-run game. However, the Athletics tacked on a run in the fifth to stretch their advantage back to three runs.
Perez’s homer came as part of a four-run sixth inning.
Singles by rookie outfielder Kyle Isbel, All-Star leadoff hitter Whit Merrifield and shortstop Nicky Lopez, who is now batting .303 for the season, set the table for Perez.
Lopez’s single, lined off the glove of Athletics second baseman Tony Kemp, drove in the first run of the inning.
When asked about his tendency to hit home runs when his team is trailing, Perez pointed upwards and said, “First, thank God.”
“I don’t know,” Perez continued. “I’m just trying to do my job. Seriously, I don’t try to do too much. I’ve said that before. When I get too big, when I put myself under too much pressure, to be like we need a home run here, we need a guy from third base. When I kind of put pressure on myself, I don’t think things go that well. So I just get to home plate in that at-bat and just try to do my job.
“Whit was on third base. He’s my responsibility. He’s my job, to bring him home. I think it was a good pitch too, down and in, it was right on the black. I just do my best to put the barrel (on it) and that ball was a homer.”
Perez, facing reliever Yusmeiro Petit, launched a 2-1 fastball into the night sky.
That made the score 8-7. The Royals added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh inning.
“He definitely has the clutch gene, for sure,” Lopez said of Perez. “I had a pretty good view of it at second base. Right when you hear it, you hear the crack of the bat and you see it — it’s pretty special just to be in the moment with him, on the field with him and seeing everything unfold and what he’s been able to do this season is truly remarkable.”
