Four hits, a career milestone and a taped congratulations from franchise icon George Brett. That’s how Kansas City All-Star catcher Salvador Perez’s night went, but he would’ve enjoyed it all more had it included a Royals win.
The Royals got off to a dreadfully slow start offensively, striking out 10 times against Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Alex Cobb, but they found a jolt of energy in a three-run sixth inning to pull within a run after having dug an early hole.
However, that energy and momentum went flying down the right-field line a half inning later at 119 mph off the bat of Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani.
Ohtani laced a double that sparked a three-run seventh inning for the Angels. They added onto their lead in the ninth as the Royals dropped the first game of the three-game series 10-3 on Monday night at Kauffman Stadium.
Perez went 4 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored, while Jorge Soler drove in a pair of runs and Whit Merrifield doubled and scored a run.
Ohtani went 3 for 5 with two doubles, two runs scored and three RBIs, while Mike Trout homered and walked for the Angels.
Perez became the fourth active catcher with at least 1,000 career hits. He joined Kurt Suzuki, Yadier Molina and Jonathan Lucroy in that group with his sixth-inning single.
Royals starting pitcher Brady Singer struck out six in five innings. Singer allowed four runs, just one earned, on seven hits (all singles) and three errors. He committed one of the errors in the field.
