CLEVELAND (AP) — Salvador Perez hit a grand slam and drove in a career-high six runs as the Kansas City Royals completed a doubleheader sweep of Cleveland, beating the Guardians 9-4 on Monday night to pull within one game of first in the AL Central.
The Royals won the opener 4-3 as Bobby Witt Jr.’s 27th homer — and 11th since July 19 — snapped a tie in the eighth inning.
After being nine games back in early July, the Royals have chipped away at Cleveland’s lead by posting an AL-best 22-13 record since the All-Star break. They can now move into a tie for the division lead with a win Tuesday.
“You couldn’t ask for any more,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “By no means does that mean anything is done. But these guys played extremely hard today after getting beaten up the last couple days (losing back-to-back blowouts to Philadelphia) and put that behind them.”
In Game 2, the 34-year-old Perez, who served as DH after catching the opener in hot conditions, hit a solo homer in the fifth inning — after nearly striking out — and then connected for his sixth career slam in the sixth off Tim Herrin.
The nine-time All-Star catcher has 17 career multi-homer games, tying him with Hall of Famer George Brett for the most in Kansas City history.
“He’s remarkable,” Quatraro said. “To catch that first game he was drained, you could tell, physically and mentally. Then to go out there and put those at-bats together was remarkable.”
The Guardians, who have led the Central since April 14, dropped to 0-8 in doubleheaders this season and 1-15 the last two.
But manager Stephen Vogt doesn’t see any heads hanging.
“They’re pros,” he said. “They know it was a rough day. Every time we have a tough day, they come back ready to win. This group’s not going to get discouraged. It’s not in their DNA. They all know where we’re at.”
Leading 5-4 in the sixth, the Royals loaded the bases and had a runner forced at the plate before Perez drove his 25th homer 457 feet into the bleachers. Perez’s shot tied him with Frank White for the most slams in Royals history.
José Ramírez had three doubles, giving Cleveland’s star third baseman two or more extra-base hits in 109 games to tie him with Tris Speaker for second in club history behind Earl Averill (135). Ramírez has also reached 30 homers, 30 doubles and 30 steals in a season for the second time.
Perez’s homer in the fifth off Logan Allen (8-5) came one pitch after he caught a break.
He fouled back a 3-2 pitch that catcher Bo Naylor appeared to snare before it hit the ground. But plate umpire John Tumpane looked into Naylor’s glove and noticed dirt on the ball, giving Perez new life.
With another chance, he pulled his 24th homer into the bleachers to give Kansas City a 5-4 lead.
Tumpane made the same call in the sixth, and this time Guardians pitching coach Carl Willis was ejected for arguing.
Willis not only felt Perez swung and missed, but that he didn’t make contact.
“I don’t think that it hit the bat,” Willis said. “They made the call they made, and the next pitch goes over the wall, then a half-inning later kind of a replay of the same scenario. That kind of set me off a little bit.”
In the opener, Witt connected on a 0-1 pitch from rookie Hunter Gaddis (4-3), driving it 413 feet into the left-field bleachers.
The All-Star shortstop came in batting .417 since the break, the fourth-highest average (with at least 125 at-bats) in the second half since World War II. Only Ted Williams (.454 in 1957), Ichiro Suzuki (.429, 2004) and George Brett (.421, 1980) have hit higher.
It was just another noteworthy moment of many in 2024 for Witt.
“He’s always present,” Quatraro said. “He doesn’t care what he’s done prior or what he’s going to do tomorrow. He’s going to be in that box and trying to beat you right there. Bobby’s a special player.”
MJ Melendez belted a three-run homer and made a sensational catch in left field for the Royals in Game 1.
John Schreiber (4-3) worked 1 2/3 innings and Lucas Erceg put the tying run on with a walk in the ninth before getting his fifth save since coming to Kansas City in a July 30 trade from Oakland.
Reliever Nick Sandlin made his first major league start for Cleveland in the opener. The right-hander hadn’t started a game since his junior year at Southern Miss in 2018.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Royals: LHP Will Smith (back spasms) was placed on the 15-day injured list, one day after he allowed five runs in one inning against Philadelphia. Quatraro said Smith’s back issue has “been lingering for a while.”
UP NEXT
Guardians RHP Gavin Williams (2-6, 5.13 ERA) starts Tuesday against Royals RHP Michael Lorenzen (7-6, 3.47), who threw seven scoreless innings in his most recent outing.