Salvy hits 318 and leads team to first victory in Detroit this year

All season, Royals fans have been waiting for Salvador Perez to smash his 318th home run and take over the franchise record from team legend George Brett. On a warm summer day in late July, Salvy did it. There’s something poetic about this one, as there always was going to be with home number 318. But he hit it in the same place where he hit his first career home run, Comerica Park in Detroit. He also did the thing he had done 36 times before, coming up clutch with a game-tying smash. His big play also sparked something in a Royals team that has, for more than a decade, looked to the big Captain for their drive, and led the Royals to do something that seemed impossible. Once upon a time, it was winning a playoff game when he yanked a grounder down the third base line in extras; today it was beating the Tigers in Detroit.

After a game like this, we could reasonably talk about how Michael Wacha did some Matrix-style bullet dodging for seven innings. We could talk about how Daniel “Danny Drips” Lynch IV and Alex Lange-xiety combined for two shutout innings at the end of the game to finish things off. We could talk about Vinnie Pasquantino smoking three singles, or Michael Massey blasting a ball to right-center that would have been out of 28/30 big league parks in service this year but served only as a sacrifice fly to score the game’s first run. We could – and will – talk about Nick Loftin continuing to flex his clutch gene by hitting the game-winning home run in the ninth inning.

But the only thing anyone is going to remember from today is Salvador Perez identifying the hanging slider, putting a good swing on it, and smashing a no-doubter down the left field line to set a record that will stand for years and years, if not decades.

A rare highlight posted by the Royals’ media account that lasts for more than the bare minimum to convey the play. Drink it in. Savor it.

OK, good. Let’s talk about the rest of the game.

So as noted above, Michael Wacha wasn’t exactly dominant in this one. He only struck out 3 while walking 2 and allowing 6 hits, including four extra-base knocks, in seven innings. But he ultimately allowed only a pair of runs. He was giving up hard contact all day, but he managed to get the Tigers to hit the ball to centerfield quite a bit, and Lane Thomas kept running them down. It’s the kind of start that makes you glad to have Michael Wacha right now and nervous about having him next year.

Danny Drips picked things up in the eighth inning and got the Tigers 1-2-3. He was asked to get Riley Greene out in the ninth after Loftin had given the team the lead, but allowed a leadoff single instead. Lange-xiety came in and struck out Hao-Yu Lee with a high heater, allowed a single to Zack McKinstry that put the go-ahead run on base, but struck out Matt Vierling after a couple of awkward bunt attempts and then induced a pop-up from pinch-hitting Spencer Torkelson to lock down the win.

Let’s look at Loftin’s smash, real quick.

I was amused in the moment by how much this looked like the dinger Salvy had hit two innings earlier. It’s a fastball instead of a slider, but it’s up and in, and you could tell he was just waiting for that location and ripped it to a very similar spot. I don’t think Loftin is ever going to challenge any of Salvy’s home run records, but it was nice to see him copy the Captain’s homework for a game.

The Royals will attempt to split the series tomorrow afternoon. The Royals currently list TBD as their starting pitcher, though it’s Luinder Avila‘s turn. Perhaps they’re considering using an opener for him, as they did for Noah Cameron last night? I just hope it’s not another injury. We’ve had enough of those, thanks. The Tigers will use Framber Valdez (4.57 ERA, 4.35 SIERA). Don’t let the numbers fool you, though. He’s a lefty, so the Royals will have their work cut out for them. The game starts at 12:40 PM Central and will be on Royals.TV.