Salvador Perez continues his resurgence as Royals pummel Cubs at Wrigley Field

Pete Grathoff, The Kansas City Star on Jul 21, 2025

Published in Baseball

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CHICAGO — The whispers among Kansas City Royals fans began in late May.

Royals catcher Salvador Perez had celebrated his 35th birthday that month, and some fans wondered if his best days were in the rearview mirror.

But if there’s one thing Royals fans have learned through the years about the team’s captain, it’s this: It’s unwise to count him out, no matter how bad things look.

Perez continued his remarkable resurgence by clubbing a pair of home runs Monday night as the Royals crushed the Chicago Cubs 12-4 at Wrigley Field. Perez had four RBIs.

That continued his sensational run of play since the start of June.

After his average dipped to .214 on May 26, Perez has been white-hot. He has belted 15 home runs and driven in 44 runs in his last 69 games.

That included Monday’s pair of blasts that helped the Royals rally from a 4-1 deficit against the Cubs, who were tied for the NL Central lead entering the night.

Perez has hit safely in 29 of his last 41 games and is batting .367 in the month of July.

Caglianone homers again

Rookie outfielder Jac Caglianone hit an opposite-field homer to open the scoring. That one barely cleared the basket in left-center field.

Caglianone had two opposite-field hits on Sunday, and although it’s a small sample size, it’s encouraging to see him hit the ball to all fields.

Injury updates

Royals relief pitcher Hunter Harvey, who has been coming back from a strained teres major muscle (located in the upper right back, near the shoulder blade) threw a scoreless inning Sunday for Double-A Northwest Arkansas while on a rehabilitation assignment.

“He had another really good outing last night. He threw nine pitches, 1-2-3 inning, two strikeouts,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “Was up to 99 (mph), slider was upper 80s. So he said he hasn’t felt this good in a long time.”

Harvey will pitch again Wednesday and then the Royals will evaluate him again.

Also, Royals outfielder Mark Canha, who is out with an elbow injury, is back in Kansas City and Quatraro said he feels “significantly better.”

Up next

The Royals will play the Cubs again Tuesday at Wrigley Field. First pitch is at 8:05 p.m. ET. Quatraro hasn’t announced a starter, but the Cubs will start lefty pitcher Matthew Boyd.

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