TORONTO -- A red-hot Salvador Perez is a dangerous hitter to pitch to, and no one can cool him down right now.
The Royals' catcher mashed his 20th home run of the season in the Royals’ 4-2 loss to the Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon at Rogers Centre, a solo shot in the sixth inning that marked Perez’s second in as many games, seventh in his past 12 games and 11th in his past 21 games.
The stretch comes after Perez hit just four home runs through May and nine through June this season.
Now he has 20 in his 14th big league season, and he made history with Saturday’s swing.
Perez has hit 20-plus home runs in nine seasons, surpassing George Brett for most such seasons in Royals history.
“The most important thing is to win the game, win the World Series,” Perez said. “But yeah, I think everybody has personal goals. You feel better when we win, but I thank God to just let me do what I do every day and play baseball. I love what I do.
“To be around that kind of name -- George Brett is a Hall of Famer -- that means a lot to me.”
And Perez means a lot to the Royals, even more so now in this stretch of his that has seen him hit safely in 37 of 51 games since the start of June. Perez just finished one of the best months of his career in July with a 1.098 OPS, the second-highest mark in any calendar month of his career (min. 50 plate appearances), behind his 1.197 OPS in September 2020.
He started August in much the same way.
“Nothing surprises me when people tell me the stats he’s compiling,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “... We need him, and we need other guys to do it, too. But when you provide power in the middle of the lineup like that, that’s a big threat at any time.”
Perez’s home run came against Max Scherzer, who otherwise held the Royals quiet across six innings Saturday. Kansas City had runners on first and third with one out and the heart of their order coming up in the third inning, only to see Bobby Witt Jr. strike out swinging and Vinnie Pasquantino fly out.
The Royals went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position Saturday, although small ball manufactured a run in the seventh when Adam Frazier doubled, moved to third on a groundout and scored on Kyle Isbel’s sacrifice bunt.
“We need to take advantage when we’ve got guys in scoring position and try to bring them in,” Perez said. “But it’s part of the game, too. [Scherzer is] going to make his pitches.”
The Royals were in a deficit after the third inning, when the Blue Jays scored two on a bloop single to center field. Right fielder John Rave bobbled the ball, allowing Davis Schneider to reach second, and Schneider scored on Bo Bichette’s single off Royals starter Noah Cameron.
But Cameron bounced back after the long inning, throwing 6 1/3 innings total and allowing four runs, the last of which was scored when Steven Cruz came in during the seventh and allowed an inherited runner to score.
“Bloop single is not the right time there with guys on base,” Cameron said. “But we continued to attack. After that inning, beared down and started getting in some good counts. Started getting ahead of hitters, which I struggled with at the beginning.”
Scherzer vs. Perez was a matchup between two potential future Hall of Famers, with Scherzer’s induction seemingly inevitable after the career he continues to put together and Perez’s more and more possible because of the consistent numbers he continues to post.
What could be a big help is a big number he’s eyeing this season. Perez has 293 career home runs after Saturday’s blast.
Just seven away from No. 300.
“I hope I can do it this year,” Perez said.
Only seven primary catchers (who played at least 75% of their games behind the plate) have surpassed 300 home runs in their careers. Six of them are Hall of Famers:
Mike Piazza (427)
Johnny Bench (389)
Carlton Fisk (376)
Yogi Berra (358)
Gary Carter (324)
Lance Parrish (324) – not in the Hall of Fame
Ivan Rodriguez (311)
No. 300 might not have seemed that close with the way the season started for Perez, who struggled offensively out of the gate like the rest of the Royals' offense. But now?
It could be here sooner than ever with the way he’s swinging the bat.
“Man, I hope so,” Cameron said. “It’s fun to watch him do what he does.”