Winner of Royals’ Sonic Slam contest had inkling Salvador Perez might come through
About two weeks ago, David Dicus received an email from the Royals saying he would be the Sonic Slam contestant for Thursday night’s game.
Dicus, 37, doesn’t have cable, so he was listening to the game in Seattle, and the Royals were struggling early. They had one hit through five innings against the Mariners’ Yusei Kikuchi and trailed 4-0.
A Royals fan for nearly two decades, Dicus knew the Sonic Slam inning sometimes can end quickly.
“You’ve got to figure a lot of times you get a one-two-three inning or you don’t get any chance, and they had nothing going all night,” Dicus said Friday. “I think they had maybe one hit going into the sixth.”
Ah, but Dicus is a savvy baseball fan who realized the smooth sailing for Kikuchi may not last.
“I did know Kikuchi was going through the order for the third time,” Dicus said. “I was like, well, hopefully they’ll get something going and they did it immediately.”
Ryan O’Hearn and Emmanuel Rivera opened the sixth with singles, and Whit Merrifield followed with an RBI double that made it a 4-1 game.
At that point, Dicus thought he may have a shot at the $25,000 prize, which is given to a contestant when a Royals player hits a grand slam over the wall.
“I told my wife, ‘Well, this is pretty ideal’ when Whit doubled, so it was second and third, no outs and I knew Nicky Lopez was coming up,” Dicus recalled. “I was like he’s probably not going to hit a home run but it’d be amazing if he walked and then it’d be bases loaded and Salvador (Perez) is up. And then he (Lopez) gets a four-pitch walk. I was very excited.”
The flurry of Royals base runners ended Kikuchi’s night and Joe Smith relieved. Smith had been acquired in a trade with the Astros and had pitched well for Seattle.
“I also knew they had traded for Joe Smith and when they brought him in, I was like I’m pretty sure it’s probably not a great matchup,” Dicus said. “And I saw (after the game) Salvy was like 0 for 7 against him the past. I guess he was due.”
Perez certainly was due, and he crushed a grand slam that won Dicus a whole lot of money.
Dicus’ 1-year-old son was sound asleep when Perez hit the grand slam, and dad did his best to keep quiet.
“But my wife had to scream,” Dicus said with a laugh. “He didn’t wake up though. We were excited and my sister in law FaceTimed us right then and we decided we better open another beer, just to celebrate properly.”
Dicus said he is not sure how he will spend the money, but maybe he and his wife will take a trip.
This was just the 10th time a fan had won the grand prize in the Sonic Slam inning, and Dicus couldn’t believe he’s on such a short list.
“I have a small group of people I’ve been going to games with for almost 20 years now,” Dicus said. “And so we all know about the inning and we go in person a lot. We just love going and watching Major League Baseball, whether the team is good or not. The people that work there are usually just so nice. There’s nothing like being at Kauffman on a summer evening. It’s the best.”
For Dicus, Thursday’s Royals’ game in Seattle also was pretty darn good.
This story was originally published August 30, 2021 at 9:59 AM.
