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The Royals have had a dreadful start to the season, as they are tied for the worst record in Major League Baseball at 7-14.<\/p>\n
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This past week has seen the Royals fail to win once despite playing a number of close games, although that wasn\u2019t the case Saturday. The Yankees pummeled the Royals 13-4<\/a> in New York, but Royals catcher Salvador Perez didn\u2019t play.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Royals were playing a day game following Friday night\u2019s contest (a 4-2 loss at Yankee Stadium), so Royals manager Matt Quatraro gave Perez the day off.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cSalvy\u2019s been struggling a little bit. Just try to give him a little mental breather,\u201d Quatraro said, per Anne Rogers, the Royals reporter for MLB.com.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Perez, 35, is batting .160 with three home runs with six RBIs and 17 strikeouts in 20 games.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hours after the Royals\u2019 loss on Saturday, Perez refuted Quatraro\u2019s reason for the day off.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t need a mental breather,\u201d Perez wrote on X.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n That\u2019s a potentially troubling sign for the Royals when the team captain offers a rebuttal on social media to something said by the manager. For the Royals\u2019 sake, hopefully Perez and Quatraro can smooth over any issues there might be.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n