KANSAS CITY — If there was anyone the Royals wanted at the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning on Wednesday night, it was Salvador Perez.
And once again, he came through.
Perez cranked a moonshot game-tying home run that splashed in the fountains at Kauffman Stadium in the Royals’ eventual 3-2 walk-off win in 10 innings over the White Sox on Wednesday.
While the Royals couldn’t end it in nine innings, they came through in the 10th with some small ball. With Hunter Dozier on second after a fielder’s choice that resulted in Andrew Benintendi getting caught in a rundown between third base and home — which third base umpire CB Bucknor originally called safe before a quick replay review overturned it — Michael A. Taylor lined a single up the middle.
Dozier slid home safely, avoiding the tag at home to seal the Royals’ seventh win in eight games.
Kansas City needed just a few runs of offense to win because of starter Kris Bubic’s quality outing. The young lefty tossed the Royals’ seventh quality start since the All-Star break, quieting the White Sox through six innings with just two runs allowed in the fifth — one of which came on a rundown that got the out but allowed the second run to score. He allowed four hits and walked one, building on his last start against Detroit when he shut the Tigers down for six innings, too.
