Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez is the franchise’s new leader for all-time home runs.
Perez launched a 401-foot blast in the top of the seventh inning against the Tigers at Comerica Park. It tied the Royals with the Detroit Tigers at 2-2 in Saturday afternoon’s game and broke the tie the catcher had with Royals legend George Brett as the franchise’s home run leader. The Royals went on to win 3-2.
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The home run was the catcher’s 318th of his career. Perez has been with the Royals since 2011 and is one of the longest-tenured active players in MLB.
Brett played for the Royals his entire career from 1973 to 1993. Over the course of 2,707 games, the third baseman mashed 317 home runs. Perez achieved the feat in 1,805 games.
He tied Brett’s mark with his 317th home run last Wednesday. The impressive feat was overshadowed by a fan going into a fountain at Kauffman Stadium to retrieve the ball. The fan was promptly arrested, but Perez made a public request that the fan be released from custody.
“Please, police, just take care of the job, please, and send him home. If I was him, I’d maybe jump too and try to get that ball, so please. And thank you for the hard work in trying to get that ball.”
The Kansas City Police Department later confirmed to Fox 4 Kansas City that the fan was cited for trespassing and had been released.
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Questions are starting to rise about how many more seasons Perez has in him. He has largely moved from behind the plate to serving as the Royals’ designated hitter to help prolong his career.
Perez will turn 37 next season in what would be his 17th year in the league. He has caught 39 of the 97 games he has played this year, largely filling in as Kansas City‘s backup catcher.
The veteran is slashing .210/.257/.361, which would all be career lows if the season ended today. Perez has hit 15 home runs with 44 RBI, with none more historic than the franchise record-setting home run Saturday.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source sports.yahoo.com ’
