Perez powers Royals to win with historic knocks

SEATTLE -- There’s a C on Salvador Perez's jersey, and it doesn’t mean catcher.

Yes, Perez is the Royals’ backstop, but he’s also their captain, and in the big leagues, that’s a big deal.

As of Tuesday night’s much-needed Royals 6-3 win over the Mariners at T-Mobile Park, only two Major League players are current team captains: Perez and Yankees star Aaron Judge.

It was fitting, then, that on a night when Kansas City seemed to need a victory as much as it has at any point in the 2025 season, its captain did captain things. Perez’s two-RBI fifth-inning double proved to be the biggest hit of the night, and it made team history, too.

With that pivotal two-base hit, Perez passed Alex Gordon for the sixth-most hits in Royals history at 1,644. He then added No. 1,645 with another double in the seventh inning, and No. 1,656 in the top of the ninth with an RBI single. Perez now trails only franchise luminaries George Brett (3,154), Frank White (2,006), Amos Otis (1,977), Willie Wilson (1,968) and Hal McRae (1,924).

Also, Perez’s seventh-inning double was the 600th extra-base hit of his career, making him the fifth Royal to achieve this feat (Brett, 1,119; McRae, 681; White, 625; Otis, 623).

“Those numbers we’re talking about are historic, and by some of the greats in the history of this organization,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “Salvy is the team captain, he’s a leader all the time, he plays hard all the time, he never wants to come out, and he’s all the things that you look up to as a teammate and as a staff member.

“For him to just keep checking boxes on his Hall of Fame career is really special to be able to watch.”

Also special was the way the Royals won on Tuesday, after a lackluster offensive effort in Monday’s series opener against Seattle, whom Kansas City is fighting in the American League Wild Card standings.

They scored a run in the first on a Jonathan India leadoff double and Maikel Garcia RBI single, added two more in the second on an RBI double by Nick Loftin and a fielder’s choice by Kyle Isbel, and then added on in the fifth when Bobby Witt Jr.’s infield single and Vinnie Pasquantino’s double set up Perez for his double to the wall in right-center field. Perez added an insurance run with an RBI single in the ninth to cap a three-hit, three-RBI night.

Starter Michael Lorenzen gave up three runs on six hits in 4 2/3 innings and the bullpen picked him up, with scoreless work by John Schreiber, Angel Zerpa, Lucas Erceg, Steven Cruz and Carlos Estévez (23rd save of the year) the rest of the way.

“It's huge,” Lorenzen said. “You know, we rely on our bullpen a lot, and they do that a lot for us. And I’d like to have given more length, but they didn't need it. They came in and they got that third out that I couldn't get, and then I feel like everyone kind of picked each other up after that.”

Quatraro spoke in the clubhouse about how the Royals are going to need all 26 players on the roster -- and perhaps more than that -- to get to where they need to go after recent struggles. And while Perez is the unquestioned veteran team leader, he agreed with that sentiment.

In fact, in the immediate aftermath of his latest rewriting of the Royals’ history book, he spoke of one thing first:

“The most important thing is that we won the game,” Perez said. “Everything feels a little bit better when you win the game. Every win is important for us, and especially where we are right now. Every win matters. Every game matters for us.

“We know it’s not easy to make it to the playoffs, but we proved that we could last year, so we still have the opportunity. We just need to come in and try to do what we did tonight. Win some games.”