Perez swiped his first bag in five years, and the Royals kept swinging their way through the hottest stretch of their season.
The best story at Kauffman Stadium on Sunday was not the offense that carried the Kansas City Royals to an 11-7 win over the Detroit Tigers.
It was the sight of the 36-year-old catcher taking off for second base.
Salvador Perez stole second in the second inning, his first stolen base since July 21, 2021 per MLB.com's Anne Rogers, and the dugout treated it like a walk-off.
Just about everything is breaking Kansas City's way at the minute and the win pushed the streak to eight straight, wrapping up a homestand where the club did not lose a single time.
"That feels even better than a home run. It took me five years to steal one bag," Perez said.
Another Big Day For The Bats
The offense did plenty around him.
Detroit struck first on Kevin McGonigle's RBI double in the opening inning, then Kansas City answered with five runs in the second, as Kyle Isbel lined a two-run double and Nick Loftin followed with a three-run homer for a 5-1 lead.
Detroit fought back and tied the game at five in the fifth on Kevin McGonigle's two-run homer, but the Royals answered right away in the bottom half, with Vinnie Pasquantino and Perez lining RBI doubles before John Rave's two-run shot made it 9-5, and Isbel and Loftin added run-scoring singles in the eighth.
Loftin finished 3-for-4 with four RBIs and his sixth homer of the season, Isbel drove in three, and Perez, who has 17 home runs this year, chipped in two hits and two runs.
John Schreiber picked up the win in relief after starter Daniel Lynch IV left in the fifth, and Steven Cruz worked a hitless ninth to close it out.
The Streak
This is Kansas City's longest winning streak since May 2024, and that 7-0 homestand was just the fourth perfect homestand of seven or more games in franchise history.
The run does not change the standings much for a team that sits 58-74, but it says plenty about a young roster that kept competing after the season got away, sweeping the Athletics and then the Tigers in back-to-back series.
Kansas City has won nine of its last ten overall, the running game is suddenly part of the fun, and even Bobby Witt Jr. swiped his 35th bag of the season on Sunday.
It has been a whirlwind of a season in Kansas City, from Witt's message about the team's approach to Maikel Garcia's hamstring injury and every other injury and disappointment in between.
What Comes Next
Kansas City gets Monday off before opening a road trip in Toronto on Tuesday, with series in Toronto and Cleveland ahead.
Jac Caglianone was scratched from Sunday's lineup with ankle soreness and Rave was the one who stepped into his spot in the order.
Winning streaks like this one always end, but a clubhouse where the veteran catcher is stealing bases and the kids are stacking four-RBI days is pretty fun in a lost season.
