Kansas City Royals’ Sal Perez blasted 2 homers, but he would rather have gotten the win
Salvador Perez finally uncoiled that swift, powerful and oftentimes majestic swing that captivated Kansas City Royals followers throughout last spring and summer when he swatted his way to the major-league lead in home runs and a franchise single-season record.
Perez crushed a pair of home runs — his first ones of the young season — in the first game of a two-game set against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium on Tuesday night. However, they came in a loss as the Royals fell 6-5.
Perez, who served as the Royals designated hitter on Tuesday, recorded the 13th multi-homer game of his career. He had six multi-home run games last season.
“It feels great, but the most important thing is to win the game,” Perez said. “It’s like if I hit four home runs and lose: It’s kind of like yeah for me I feel good but for the team I feel bad. We should have won that game tonight.”
Royals starting pitcher Daniel Lynch gave up three runs in the bottom of the first. All of the runs came on a pair of homers by Cardinals sluggers Nolan Arenado and Albert Pujols.
Just when it looked like the Cardinals might take the Royals out of the game early, Perez started the second inning off with his first home run of the season, a 441-foot blast to left center.
That home run jump-started a three-run inning that also included a two-run homer by Michael A. Taylor as the Royals immediately responded.
“(I was) happy about how our offense came right back,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “You get the wind kicked out of you with three runs, and you come right back in and figure out a way. Salvy getting on the board. Michael getting on the board. Just kind of keep fighting your way back through.”
Lynch gave up another three runs in the fourth inning, but made it through five in the outing.
Perez credited Lynch for the way he bounced back from giving up those runs and saved some wear and tear on the bullpen.
Perez added his second home run in the eighth inning to pull the Royals within one, 6-5, but they did not get another man on base.
“Hopefully, more home runs are coming,” Perez said. “I’m trying to help my team win. I’m always coming to play hard every day, get some opportunities, get some at-bats, try to do my best and see what happens after the last out.”
Last season, Perez won his fourth Silver Slugger award, led the majors in RBIs (121) and tied for the lead in home runs (48). He batted .273, and his .859 OPS was a career high for a full-length season, as was his .544 slugging percentage (10th-best in MLB). He registered an OPS+ of 126.
He became the sixth player in the last 30 years to lead the majors in both home runs and RBIs. He joined Giancarlo Stanton (2017), Chris Davis (2013), Miguel Cabrera (2012), Ryan Howard (2006, 2008), and Álex Rodríguez (2002, 2007) in that distinction.
Perez tied the Royals single-season home-run record set in 2019 by his friend and offseason training partner, Jorge Soler.
Perez’s 48 homers were the most in a season for a primary catcher (at least 75% of games played at catcher) in major-league history.
Perez surpassed the previous record of 45 set by Hall of Famer Johnny Bench in 1970. By leading the majors in both home runs and RBIs, Perez became just the second primary catcher to lead in both, the other catcher having been Bench in 1970 and 1972.
This story was originally published April 13, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
