Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez hit a home run for the fifth consecutive game, matching Mike Sweeney’s team record from 2002, but the career-high 31st homer of the season by Seattle’s Kyle Seager stood up as Sunday’s decisive blast, in a 4-3 Mariners victory at T-Mobile Park.
Seager’s blast came in the 7th inning, answering a solo shot by Perez in the top of the 6th inning, with the 190th career home run by the All-Star pushing him into a 4th place tie with Alex Gordon atop the Royals career list. Perez has 38 homers this season, setting a new record for American League backstops, ten behind the Kansas City season record set by Jorge Soler two years ago. Perez nearly hit #39 on Sunday, but an 8th inning blast went off the top of the wall in right-center field, keeping Perez to an RBI single that cut the lead to 4-3.
Michael A. Taylor of the Royals and Seattle’s Jarred Kelenic added home runs for each side. Marco Gonzales got the victory for Seattle as the Mariners struggle to stay in the American League playoff race, chasing the Red Sox and Yankees in the Wild Card race, and the Athletics and Astros for the top spot in the AL West. Gonzales is now 6-5, although he is unbeaten (5-0) in his last 10 starts.
Prior to Sunday’s series finale, the Royals placed left-hander Richard Lovelady on the 10-day injured list with elbow pain, discovered after examination on early Saturday morning. Lovelady has a 2.35 ERA in his last 15 appearances with the Royals. With Lovelady shut down, Kansas City recalled right-hander Tyler Zuber from AAA Omaha. Zuber has a 6.00 ERA in 21 games with the Royals this season, with a much-more solid 3.04 ERA in 26 appearances for the Storm Chasers in 2021.
On Friday, the Royals placed opening day starter Brad Keller on the 10-day injured list with a right lat strain, suffered in the fourth inning of Thursday night’s game in Seattle, reinstating right-handed relief pitcher Josh Staumont from the IL. After veteran outfielder Jarrod Dyson was placed on waviers on Wednesday, he was picked up by the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday, ending a season in Kansas City had saw a .221 average over 77 games for the 37-year old, with eight steals in 11 attempts. Outfielder Edward Olivares was recalled from AAA Omaha to fill Dyson’s roster spot.
Here is the MLB scoreboard from Sunday, August 29, 2021:
Chicago (AL) 13, Chicago (NL) 1
Milwaukee 6, Minnesota 2
Tampa Bay 12, Baltimore 8
Cleveland 7, Boston 5
Toronto 2, Detroit 1
Texas 13, Houston 2
Oakland 3, New York (AL) 1
Philadelphia 7, Arizona 4
Pittsburgh 4, St. Louis 3
New York (NL) 9, Washington 4
Miami 2, Cincinnati 1
Atlanta 9, San Francisco 0
Colorado 5, Los Angeles (NL) 0
Photo credit – Wikimedia Commons / Seattle, WA
