ST. LOUIS -- After the Royals’ sixth consecutive loss on Saturday, manager Matt Quatraro was open to anything that might get his team’s offense in gear -- a big hit, a rally that moves the line, anything that points runners toward home plate.
“Time to start something really good, starting today,” catcher Salvador Perez said.
As he’s done for a decade and a half, Perez was able to serve up a variety of offensive selections in Sunday’s series finale against the Cardinals at Busch Stadium. He notched a sacrifice fly and his seventh homer of the season to stake the Royals to an early lead which they would hold in a 2-0 victory, salvaging one game of the three in the I-70 Series.
“The guy’s amazing,” Quatraro said. “He hasn’t been hot, but he never gives up. He’s competitive every single day, and he goes out there and drives in the two runs, gives us the lead early, extends it in the fourth, and it’s all we needed.”
Perez added an infield single in the sixth inning and a walk in the eighth in support of Stephen Kolek, who rebounded from a tough outing in Chicago to open the trip with 6 1/3 shutout innings. He allowed just four hits and a walk, recording 13 ground ball outs.
“Salvy and I had a little bit of experience together last year, but it was pretty brief,” Kolek said. “I think when we had that outing in Chicago, it was still kind of like, you know, let’s learn each other a little bit. Going into today, it was just a great step forward.”
“Steve does a great job every time he pitches,” said second baseman Michael Massey, who was involved in six of those 13 ground ball outs. “He keeps the ball on the ground a lot, so you know you’re going to be busy as an infielder.”
Perez's homer was the eighth of his career for the captain at Busch Stadium, his most at any National League park -- and more than he has at seven active American League stadiums (Baltimore, Los Angeles, Seattle, Tampa Bay, Texas, Toronto and the Athletics).
“He’s a great player, he’s been doing it for a long time, and we run through him,” Massey said, interrupted briefly by Perez, who told his teammate, “I love you, too.”
Despite not drawing a walk against St. Louis starter Andre Pallante, the Royals managed to scatter eight hits against him. Unlike the earlier games this weekend, they came in more or less the right order to do a little damage from the game’s opening frame. Maikel Garcia led off the game with a single and moved to third base after Vinnie Pasquantino singled and Victor Scott II bobbled the ball in center field.
The error put Garcia in place to take advantage of a deep fly ball from Perez that provided a lead which would not be relinquished. A slightly deeper fly ball leading off the fourth -- this one at a Statcast-projected 393 feet -- provided more than enough padding to avoid turning a second winless road trip in the season’s early going.
Those 393 feet were 303 further than the Cardinals maneuvered while they were on the basepaths nearly all day long. Before Nolan Gorman was surrendered second base in the ninth inning via defensive indifference, the Cardinals did not have a runner advance any further than first.
The advance didn’t last long. Lucas Erceg’s 10th pitch to Nathan Church in the final at-bat went as a quiet grounder to short to send the Royals home lifted by a victory rather than dragging the weight of yet another loss.
“This is a good place to play,” Quatraro said. “It’s fun, the crowd’s into it, it’s a good rivalry, and I’m happy we came out on top for our guys, because I know how hard they’ve been working. They’ve worn these losses, and it’s not easy.”
It was a weekend at Busch Stadium defined in large part by noise, as the Cardinals leaned into rowdy fan behavior to juice up the environment on Rivalry Weekend. It took the better part of three days for the significant number of Royals fans present on the east side of the state to make their presence known, but ultimately the last sounds of the weekend were a stout “let’s go Royals” chant that bubbled up in the ninth.
“I think a win every day is good,” Perez said through his trademark smile. “It’s not about today. Trying to do our best every day, you know? Got the ‘W.'”