Kansas City Royals vs Seattle Mariners Match Player Stats On Aug 28, 2021

Salvador Perez homered for the fourth consecutive game Saturday afternoon as the Kansas City Royals defeated the host Seattle Mariners 4-2.

Perez hit grand slams in each of the first two games of the series, and although Saturday's fifth-inning blast was just a two-run shot, it sent the Royals on their way to their third successive win over the Mariners.

He had become the first Royals player and just the 25th in baseball history to hit grand slams in back-to-back games, and had a chance for three in a row when he came to the plate with the bases loaded and no outs in the third inning against Mariners left-hander Tyler Anderson (6-9).

Perez flew out to shallow left field on a 1-1 pitch, but in his next plate appearance, with Nicky Lopez on first following a two-out single, Perez lined a shot that bounced off the top of the left-field wall and into the Royals bullpen for a 3-0 lead.

It was his 37th homer of the season, which ranks second in the major league to the Los Angeles Angels' Shohei Ohtani, who had 41 heading into Saturday night's games.

Whit Merrifield led off the game with his 10th homer of the season for the Royals, who will attempt to complete a sweep of the four-game series Sunday by winning for the eighth time in their past 10 games.

Kansas City left-hander Daniel Lynch, who was 3-0 over his previous four starts, pitched well but fell victim to a high pitch count and didn't qualify for the victory.

Lynch was replaced by right-hander Domingo Tapia after Seattle loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth inning. Tapia walked Cal Raleigh to bring home a run before getting Jarred Kelenic to fly out to left field.

Lynch threw 104 pitches in his 4 2/3 innings, and was charged with one run on seven hits. He walked three and struck out four.

Joel Payamps (1-3) pitched 2 2/3 innings of scoreless, one-hit relief for his first major league victory, and fellow right-hander Scott Barlow earned his 10th save despite allowing back-to-back doubles to Mitch Haniger and Luis Torrens with two outs in the ninth.

Anderson suffered his first loss in six starts for the Mariners after being acquired just before the trade deadline from Pittsburgh. He allowed three runs on eight hits over seven-plus innings, with no walks and six strikeouts.

--Field Level Media