For a very short time, things looked good for the Royals. With two outs, Vinnie Pasquantino lined a ball down the right field line for a double. Maikel Garcia followed with an RBI single before Salvador Perez launched his 299th career home run, earning RBIs number 998 and 999. It was Salvy’s sixth hit in six at-bats against Phillies starter Taijuan Walker. And the Royals had a three-run lead.
Listen, we could talk about the specifics of who scored which runs against whom, but there’s a better focus as the season draws to a close and the Royals prepare to take on the offseason without the benefit of a postseason berth. So suffice it to say that the Royals did not pitch well tonight. Every pitcher who entered the game for KC gave up at least one run except for Sam Long and Lucas Erceg.
One really cool thing did happen after that first inning, though, so let’s focus on that.
If you can’t read the embedded post above, it has a video replay of Salvy’s second at-bat of the night against Taijuan Walker in which he hit another home run. That gave him 300 home runs and 1000 RBIs for his career. He becomes only the eighth primary catcher in MLB history to hit at least 300 home runs, including Mike Piazza, Johnny Bench, Carlton Fisk, Yogi Berra, Gary Carter, Iván Rodriguez, and Lance Parrish. All but Parrish have already been elected into the Hall of Fame.
I don’t know if Salvador Perez is a Hall of Famer. The numbers still mostly say no, but numbers aren’t the only things that Hall of Fame voters rely on, and he seems likely to be the only catcher on that list other than Bench to play his entire career on one team, so that counts for something. What does seem clear is that Salvy will be a first-ballot Royals Hall of Famer and could very likely see his number retired alongside George Brett, Frank White, and Dick Howser. He was also a World Series MVP for the only Royals team to win a World Series in the past 40 years and is one of only a handful of Royals to ever wear the Captain’s C on his chest.
Salvy has hit several other milestones this year and still has a reasonable chance to hit 30 home runs for the second time in his career. He has an outside shot to get to 100 RBIs on the season if he can find a way to put up 16 in the remaining 14 games.
Whatever the future holds for Salvy after his playing career, it’s been an absolute blast watching him play and he’s been the heart and soul of a franchise that’s had far more success with him than they had in the decades before he arrived. Let’s all just be grateful for what we’ve been able to enjoy from the big right-hander as his career continues its seemingly never-ending twilight.
The Royals did fall below .500 again for the season. It seems difficult to imagine how they can finish the year above .500 given their remaining opponents, but it would still be cool. They’ll play the series finale tomorrow at 12:35 Central time. Noah Cameron will face off against Aaron Nola.
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