Salvador Perez goes yard as Royals defeat Mariners 5-3

Salvador Perez displayed power and peerless defense as the Royals defeated the Mariners 5-3 on Saturday afternoon.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Perez hooked a ball into the left field corner that doinked off of the foul pole for his second home run in as many days. In the top of the eighth, he threw behind the runner at first for the second out of the inning, effectively killing a potential rally.

Those are essentially the two reasons why he is an All-Star.

Cheslor Cuthbert had two RBI on the day. He doubled Eibner in during the Royals' three-run second inning and later singled in Eibner again in the sixth to give the Royals the lead. Whit Merrifield, Kendrys Morales, and Alcides Escobar additionally collected two hits apiece, as the Royals managed a dozen off of the Mariners.

Edinson Volquez was decidedly meh, which was actually a pretty welcome sight. Any sort of cromulent performance feels embiggened given the rotation struggles that Kansas City has had this year. He went six innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk while recording three strikeouts. All of the damage in the game came on a Kyle Seager home run in the fourth, as Seattle was unable to make anything of their scattered opportunities.

Luke Hochevar put two on in the seventh, but mitigated the threat on a mean strikeout of Seth Smith. Joakim Soria pitched the eighth and gave up two base runners himself, one of which was erased on the aforementioned Perez pickoff. Kelvin Herrera closed out the game, gathering his first save since 2013.

Tomorrow, Kansas City looks to take three games in the four-game series as Dillon Gee (3-2, 4.05 ERA) will take on one Mike Montgomery (2-3, 2.15), former Royals prospect.