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Way back in 2019, the Kansas City Royals were terrible. They finished with a 59-103 record, the fourth-worst team in MLB that season. The only bright spot was Jorge Soler, who hit 48 home runs, setting the all-time franchise record for home runs hit in a single season.
Royals All-Star and Gold Glove catcher Salvador Perez tied Soler’s Royals record with 48 home runs in 2021, and while Soler left Kansas City in 2021, Perez, 36, is still around to fill up the Royals record books.
The Royals stink. They’re 43-60, the fourth-worst record in MLB this season. All-Star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. just landed on the injured list for the first time in his career. The only bright spot is Perez.
On Wednesday, Perez blasted a 437-foot, two-run home run in a seventh inning that saw the Royals come from behind to take a 5-3 lead and eventually beat the San Francisco Giants at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.
It was Perez’s 14th home run of this season but, much more significantly, it was his 317th career home run, tying George Brett as the all-time leader in career home runs in franchise history.
“Super excited,” Perez said after the win. “First, I want to thank God for the opportunity, thank my family, my teammates, the fans. Thank you for coming and supporting me this many years. I appreciate that, guys. Super, super happy, and the most important thing [was] that we win today.”
“I love that guy,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said with visible emotion in his postgame presser. “What he does, the way he goes about it, the passion he plays the game [with], it’s unrivaled. The guy’s a Hall of Famer, and you’re getting to witness it.”
The Royals have won five of six after last week’s All-Star break, including a series sweep of the Giants, but barring a 15-game winning streak like the Boston Red Sox just did, the hole they dug in the first half of the season is too deep to make any sort of playoff run. They sit in last place in in the American League Central, 11.5 games back from the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Guardians, and 10.5 games back in the wild-card race.
The Royals will start a 10-game road trip against the Detroit Tigers on Thursday.
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