Kansas City Royals’ Salvador Perez comes out of Angels game with thumb injury
Kansas City Royals star Salvador Perez left Tuesday night’s game against the Los Angeles Angels in the third inning after re-aggravating a thumb injury on a swing during his second plate appearance of the game.
Perez, who hit his team-leading 11th home run in Monday night’s win over the Angels, started Tuesday’s game at catcher and batted in the cleanup spot in the batting order. He walked in the first inning, and he struck out in the top of the third inning.
During that third-inning at-bat, Perez seemed to be in discomfort in his left hand as he followed through on a swing for strike two. He took more time than usual between pitches to gather himself to finish the at-bat, and Royals manager Mike Matheny visited Perez with a trainer.
Perez struck out and did not return to the field for the bottom of the third. Cam Gallagher, whom the Royals reinstated from the IL on Monday, took over at catcher.
“We’re going to see tomorrow,” Perez said. “We’ve got the MRI tomorrow, here, at 11 o’clock. So we’re going to see after that.”
Perez missed 10 games last month with a left thumb sprain he sustained while swinging the bat in a game in May. He was on the IL from May 17-27.
For a period of time after he returned, Perez wore a brace to protect his thumb while hitting.
Perez said it was painful and swelling on Tuesday night. He wore a black brace while speaking with reporters postgame in the clubhouse, but he also expressed optimism that he wouldn’t have to miss much time.
After exiting the game, Perez spent the rest of the night watching the club’s wildest win of the season, 12-11 in 11 innings. The game featured multi-home run games by Royals rookie Bobby Witt Jr. as well as a pair of three-run homers by Angels international superstar and reigning AL MVP Shohei Ohtani.
“Ohtani is unbelievable,” Perez said. “He’s the Babe Ruth right now. It’s impressive what he does. He’s a great player. He likes to compete. It’s unbelievable. I thank God that I have the opportunity to watch him.
“But it doesn’t matter that he hit two homers, eight RBIs, but they don’t got the win. I think the most important thing is the win, and we got it tonight.”
The Royals (25-42) have won five of their last six games.
“He’s a big part of this club,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said of Perez. “... As they come back in here, the first guy in line as the club music is pumping, the first guy in line to high-five everybody is Salvy. It’s just such a unique leadership style, how much he cares about these guys, how much he wants to win.
“We’ll see tomorrow. This guy is (different). When you start to think something is going to go a certain way with him, he’s able to pull something out. So we’ll see.”
This story was originally published June 21, 2022 at 11:20 PM.