Salvador Perez homers twice as Royals beat Cubs

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[August 21, 2021]   Salvador Perez belted two of Kansas City's five home runs and the visiting Royals opened a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs with a 6-2 victory on Friday.

Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Zach Davies (27) delivers against the Kansas City Royals during the first inning at Wrigley Field. Mandatory Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports


Andrew Benintendi, Emmanuel Rivera and Cam Gallagher also homered for Kansas City, which won for the fourth time in its last five games.

Brad Keller (8-12) allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits over six innings and won for just the second time in his last 13 starts. He struck out eight with one walk.

Richard Lovelady, Jake Brentz and Scott Barlow pitched three scoreless innings of relief to secure the interleague victory.

Patrick Wisdom gave the Cubs an early lead with a leadoff homer in the second inning. Wisdom leads all National League rookies with 19 homers.

The Cubs capitalized on a Carlos Santana fielding error in the third inning and moved ahead 2-0 on Ian Happ's two-out RBI single.

Perez opened the fourth inning with a 397-foot blast off Zach Davies (6-10), who allowed four runs on five hits over six innings. He struck out five and walked one.

The Royals drew even with one out in the fifth on Rivera's first career homer, a 370-foot blast to left field.

Kansas City pulled ahead 4-2 in the sixth on solo shots by Perez and Benintendi. Davies has allowed 20 home runs this season, with 16 of them coming at Wrigley Field.

Perez and Benintendi had two hits apiece for the Royals, who took three of four from Houston earlier this week.

The Royals added to their lead in the eighth inning. Whit Merrifield led off with an infield single, moved to second on a groundout, stole third and scored on Jarrod Dyson's bunt single.

Gallagher capped Kansas City's homer barrage with his first of the season, a leadoff shot off Jake Jewell in the ninth.

Chicago was outhit 8-5 and saw its modest two-game winning streak come to an end. The Cubs are 4-19 in their last 23 games.

--Field Level Media

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