Salvador Perez leads Royals past Guardians in return of Zach Plesac
CLEVELAND — Salvador Perez had four hits and drove in two runs, Kris Bubic struck out a season-high eight and the Kansas City Royals beat the American League Central Division champion Guardians 7-1 on Saturday night.
Perez collected three singles and a solo homer in four plate appearances, spoiling the return of Guardians right-hander Zach Plesac (3-12) following a one-month stay on the injured list with a broken pitching hand.
The Guardians will host either the Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners or Tampa Bay Rays in a best-of-three Wild Card Series next weekend. The Guardians have won 10 of 12 and are an MLB-best 21-5 since Sept. 5.
Bubic (3-13) tossed five scoreless innings, allowing five hits, in snapping his career-long losing streak at seven. The left-hander had not won since July 24 against the Rays, posting a 6.14 ERA in his previous 11 starts.
Drew Waters homered for the second consecutive day, Kyle Isbel had a two-run double and MJ Melendez doubled twice for the Royals. Bobby Witt Jr. singled and stole his AL rookie-leading 29th base.
Plesac was activated to make his first start since punching the mound in anger on Aug. 27 in Seattle. He gave up four runs, one earned, in 3⅔ innings and will work out of the bullpen going forward.
Owen Miller doubled home Oscar Gonzalez in the sixth to pull the Guardians within 5-1, but Perez homered off Kirk McCarty in the seventh and Melendez scored on a fielder’s choice in the eighth for the Royals.
Catcher Bo Naylor became the 17th Guardians player to make his major-league debut this season, equaling the franchise record set in 1912 and tied in 1914. He went 0 for 2 and threw out Isbel on an attempted steal of second.
Naylor’s older brother, Josh, is the Guardians primary first baseman. The last siblings with the franchise were Roberto and Sandy Alomar Jr. in 2000.
Coming and going
The Guardians selected the contract of Naylor from Triple-A Columbus, adding a third catcher to their roster. Naylor batted .263 with 21 homers, 68 RBIs and 20 stolen bases in 118 games, split between the Clippers and the Double-A RubberDucks.
“If you pinch-hit Bo, you don’t have to pinch-run for him because of his speed,” manager Terry Francona said. “We wanted to do this because this stretch has been hard on our two catchers [Austin Hedges and Luke Maile].”
Right-hander Bryan Shaw, who was 6-2 with a 5.40 ERA in 60 games, was designated for assignment in a corresponding move. A longtime Francona favorite, Shaw is Cleveland’s career leader with 517 relief appearances.
Trainer's room
Guardians: Third baseman Gabriel Arias (right wrist bruise) was in the lineup and committed an error, one night after being hit by a Brady Singer pitch in the first inning. All-Star 3B José Ramírez was given the day off.