What happened on Royals’ costly wild pitch vs. Tigers? It involved an odd mistake
The Kansas City Royals dropped another close game on Sunday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium.
The Royals lost 1-0 and wasted a terrific start from left-hander Kris Bubic. He allowed one run on four hits across seven innings.
However, there was one moment that stood out.
In the third inning, Bubic threw a wild pitch that skipped past Royals catcher Salvador Perez. Tigers shortstop Zach McKinstry, who tripled to begin the frame, came racing home to score the game’s lone run.
The entire play looked awkward. Perez initially gave chase towards the baseball, stopped, and then kept going to retrieve it.
McKinstry was confused. He stopped in between the bases and then sprinted home as Perez went to get the ball.
“Salvador Perez was kind of — just slowly walking to the ball,” the Tigers’ broadcast noted during the play.
It was an odd sequence. And Perez took ownership of the mishap after the game.
“That was just on me,” Perez said. “You know, I thought he was going to score right away. The ball almost got to the dugout. So I thought he was coming in. And when I realized, it was too late.”
Royals manager Matt Quatraro added his perspective of the odd sequence.
“He went to the backstop and, you know, he started to go after it,” Quatraro said. “He assumed the guy was going to come in. He didn’t have a good read off of it, but he knew where it was.”
The Royals failed to tie the game. Perez had a strong day with three hits — all singles — at the plate.
This season, Perez is hitting .229 with four home runs and 26 RBIs. He continues to hit in the middle of the order but the Royals need more production with runners in scoring position.
Perez has a .319 slugging percentage with RISP. He owns a .217 batting average in those situations which ranks 126th among qualified batters in the league.
The Royals were 1-for-4 with RISP and left eight batters on base against the Tigers.
