KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Catcher Salvador Perez drilled a first-inning, two-run home run and the Royals beat the Twins, 4-2, at Kauffman Stadium on Saturday night.
Perez roped the pitch into the right-field corner some 369 feet away from home plate.
One night earlier, Perez had stood on second base, hands raised above his head as Mike Moustakas slid home with what ended up being the decisive run in the Royals' 6-5 victory.
Now here he was, playing in his second game with the Royals since starting the All-Star Game for the fifth year in a row, and making up for his career-worst first half.
In the 13 days since being named an All-Star, Perez has batted .303 (10 for 33) with 11 RBIs. The sample size is too small to improve the .213 batting average he posted in his first 67 games this season; but it's enough to start a trend in the right direction.
With the win, the Royals improved to 29-68. They hadn't won two games in a row or secured a series victory since they took two of three from the Twins at Kauffman Stadium from May 28-30.
Lower back stiffness knocked starting pitcher Jakob Junis out of the rotation the week before the All-Star break. He'd labored through his previous seven starts, allowing 35 runs (34 earned) in 401/3 innings while walking 15 and hitting six batters with a pitch. He'd struggled to command his vaunted slider, his grip falling to the side of the baseball as he released the pitch. He'd fallen victim to the long ball, giving up 13 home runs during that span.
Although he wasn't perfect in four innings Saturday, giving up two walks and four hits, the break seemed to allow Junis to regain form. He struck out six batters, half of them caught looking at sliders. Joe Mauer, who hit his 415th career double in the first inning, was the only Twins player to cross the plate with Junis on the mound.
For the second time this month, Brian Flynn pitched more than three innings of scoreless relief against the Twins. He entered Saturday's game in the fifth and retired nine of the 11 batters he faced. In three innings, he allowed one hit and one walk and struck out four.
fter Alex Gordon and Rosell Herrera drew leadoff walks from Twins reliever Taylor Rogers to start the eighth inning, shortstop Alcides Escobar laid down a textbook bunt to the left side. The runners moved into scoring position for Whit Merrifield, who found a hole up the left side of the infield to provide the Royals one run of cushion.
