Salvador Perez out of lineup for Kansas City Royals’ series finale against Angels
Salvador Perez’s thumb injury kept him out of the starting lineup for the Kansas City Royals in the final game of their West Coast road trip Wednesday night. But it’s still not clear whether the injury will require him to sit out for an extended period.
Perez came out of Tuesday night’s game in the third inning after hurting his left thumb on a swing while batting against Los Angeles Angels pitcher Reid Detmers. Perez missed 10 games on the IL with a thumb sprain from May 17-27.
He’d played in all 23 games since returning from the injured list. In his last 17 games, he’d slashed .281/.333/.625 with five home runs and 18 RBIs.
Perez had an MRI on Wednesday morning in California. The Royals are off Thursday before starting a series against the Oakland A’s on Friday at Kauffman Stadium.
“As expected with him seeing doctors all the way out here, we’re still wanting our guys to get their eyes on everything,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said. “We’re still getting all the information and letting the doctors do their thing and figure out exactly what it is we’re looking at.”
The Royals have two other catchers on their active roster with rookie MJ Melendez having been with the team since May 2, and Cam Gallagher being reinstated from the IL this week.
In 57 games this season, the seven-time All-Star Perez has slashed .211/.254/.426 with 11 home runs and 34 RBIs.
