The Kansas City Royals continued their hot streak last night, capping off a 5-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants, culminating in a series sweep. It's only the third time this year that Royals fans have been able to break out the broomsticks, as the Boys in Blue now sulk at a 43-60 overall record, still buried in the AL Central division standings.
KC's six-game homestand out of the All-Star break has been a rousing success, winning all but one contest. They now travel to Detroit for a four-game series showdown, then to Minnesota, another division rival, for three games. While those games will have a massive bearing on the standings, let's focus more on what's happened and what was the headlining story of the night.
And you cannot begin that story in any other way than first mentioning the name Salvador Perez. In the bottom of the seventh innings, Perez sent a blast up in the air that held long enough for a two-run homer. It was the beginning of a five-run inning for the Royals. Even more noteworthy was that it was Salvy's 317th career regular-season home run of his career, tying the great George Brett for the all-time franchise record.
Royals curb stomp the Giants in a three-game series sweep behind Salvador Perez magic
The 36-year-old Perez has been with the Royals for 20-plus years, and it seems he'll end it in the same place. Perez was not even drafted in 2006, but rather signed as an international free agent out of Valencia, Venezuela, and later made his MLB debut in 2011. He is the definition of loyalty.
Perez is quite simply one of the best power-hitting catchers of all time. And his 300-plus homers are just a taster. He has nine All-Star selections to his name, five of each a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger award, was the 2015 World Series MVP, and came seventh in the voting for 2021 league MVP, blasting 48 home runs and over 120 RBI's.
Perez ranks top-10 in franchise history in almost every meaningful offensive and defensive category. He is also one of just three Royals with at least 1,000 career RBI's (Brett, Hal McRae). It's hard to put into words what he has meant for this franchise. Perez has seen the Royals go through five different managers during his tenure and, too many times, had to be the one guy to lift the team up during 100-loss seasons with his positive attitude and infectious smile.
While Salvy is not the player he used to be, he is still out there making big plays that help KC win games. There's no telling how much time is left in the future Hall of Famer's career, but let's just be glad we still get to watch a master at work.
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