Salvador Perez, Royals beat Cardinals 12-8 in offensive explosion

[August 12, 2023]  Salvador Perez went 4-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs as the Kansas City Royals outlasted the visiting St. Louis Cardinals 12-8 on Friday night.
 
The Royals jumped out to a 9-0 lead after two innings, then had to stave off the Cardinals' attempted comeback. 

Maikel Garcia singled twice and scored twice against Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright, extending his hitting streak to a career-best 15 games, matching the Royals' rookie hitting-streak record. Garcia left the game in the third inning with left upper-body discomfort.

Kansas City has won seven straight home games, but just two of seven games overall on the heels of their season-best seven-game winning streak.

Willson Contreras went 3-for-3 with five RBIs for St. Louis, which has dropped 13 of 20 since its season-best six-game winning streak July 15-20.

Five of the first six Royals batters hit safely in the first inning, highlighted by Perez's two-run double, as Kansas City plated four.

In his first at-bat with the Royals, Nelson Velazquez clubbed his fourth home run leading off the second inning. Bobby Witt Jr.'s 21st homer, a three-run shot to left-center, completed an eight-run outburst against Wainwright (3-7) as the Royals rapped out nine hits in their first 11 at-bats.

Perez capped the five-run second frame with his 18th homer, a solo shot which barely cleared the right field bullpen gate for a 9-0 lead.

Wainwright allowed eight runs -- his most since June 17, 2017 -- on nine hits while recording three outs.

The Cardinals rallied for six runs against the Royals' bullpen after opener Dylan Coleman got out of a bases-loaded jam in the first inning.

In four relief innings, Angel Zerpa (1-1) allowed five runs (four earned) on five hits and a walk. Three runs came on Contreras' bases-clearing double in the third and two more were on Tyler O'Neill's two-out homer to dead center in the fifth.

Lars Nootbaar's third hit, a double to right-center, scored Tommy Edman in the sixth, cutting the deficit to 9-6.

Perez added singles in the fifth and seventh, the latter scoring Michael Massey for a 10-6 lead. It was Perez's 12th game with at least four hits.

The Royals tacked on two insurance runs in the eighth before Contreras blasted a two-run homer 461 feet to left in the ninth, capping the scoring.

--Field Level Media

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