Sep 29, 2021

Perez takes sole possession of MLB home run lead, Cardinals clinch wildcard

Posted Sep 29, 2021 12:11 PM

St. Joseph Post

Nicky Lopez drove in the Royals go-ahead run with a triple in the bottom of the eighth before scoring an insurance run on a wild pitch to push Kansas City past the Indians 6-4 at Kauffman Stadium Tuesday.

But the story continues to be Salvador Perez, who took sole possession of first place in the MLB home run race with his 47th dinger. Andrew Benintendi also went deep for Kansas City.

Salvy now has more home runs in a single season than any catcher in baseball history. His 17 go-ahead homers and 118 RBIs also lead the league this season. Shortstop Nicky Lopez says Salvy deserves any and all accolades that come his way.

"Just watching him hit home runs is so much fun," he said. "The type of season that he's having and the kind of person he is and the kind of player he is, and how much he means to the Royals and the city is crazy."

The Royals play Cleveland again on Wednesday at 7:10. Pregame starts at 6:30 on KFEQ Radio (680 AM, 95.3) in St. Joseph.

Cards clinch wildcard

Dylan Carlson, Nolan Arenado and Jose Rondon homered to back Adam Wainwright, and the St. Louis Cardinals extended their winning streak to 17 games and clinched an NL wild card berth with a 6-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers Tuesday.

St. Louis will play in the NL wild-card game on Oct. 6 at the Los Angeles Dodgers or San Francisco. The postseason trip will be the third in a row for the Cardinals.

MissouriNet contributed to this report.