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Royals Sweep Indians in Monday Doubleheader

Salvador Perez and Nicky Lopez continued their historic performances at the plate, while Brady Singer showed his elite potential for the Royals.

The Kansas City Royals opened up their series against the Cleveland Indians on a decisive note, sweeping the Sept. 20 doubleheader. 

Royals catcher Salvador Perez highlighted the first game by breaking a 51-year-old record. Perez hit his 46th home run this season, setting the record for the most home runs by a primary catcher. The previous record-holder, all-time great Johnny Bench, was quick to congratulate Perez on the accomplishment.

While Perez is still in the home run chase for 2021, Royals shortstop Nicky Lopez marked another impressive milestone in Monday's second game. 

Game 1 saw Royals right-handed pitcher Brady Singer taking the mound. He recorded his first MLB complete game with a two-run, seven strikeout performance. Singer has turned a corner late this season, with a 2-3 record and 3.83 ERA over his last seven games.

Game 2 saw a pitching-by-committee approach, as Joel Payamps, Domingo Tapia, Jake Brentz, Josh Staumont and Scott Barlow teamed up to go seven innings. Tapia had the best performance from the group, allowing no runs and striking out four over 1 2/3 innings.

“Tapia has turned into something I don’t think anybody wants to face," Royals manager Mike Matheny said. "It’s a great addition for our club, for our organization, two guys that enjoy being around here. Then you hand it off to Brentz, Josh and Scott, and they did what we hoped they’d do.”

The Royals outscored the Indians 11-4 in two seven-inning games, improving their record to 69-82. While still losing the season series against Cleveland, Matheny says the doubleheader was a good moral victory.

“To win any game, any time, we make a big deal about it, there’s no doubt about it,” Matheny said. “You look at a 1-11 coming in here and that doesn’t sit right with anybody, even though we go about it the same way. But you just knew at some point we were going to be able to put together a little bit better product. That’s always the goal, how close can we get to looking perfect knowing that it’s not attainable. We chase it every single day.”

The series between Kansas City and Clevean continues Sept. 21, with the first pitch at 5:10 p.m. CST. Left-handed pitcher Daniel Lynch will get the start in Game 3 of the four-game series.

Read More: Salvador Perez Breaks Single-Season Home Run Record for Primary Catcher