NEW YORK – Royals catcher Salvador Perez found himself in a bang-bang play at home plate and ended up with a left groin and hip injury, which forced him from the game after four innings in an eventual 2-1 loss against the Mets at Citi Field.

With Royals left-hander Cole Ragans on the mound, the Mets had runners on second and third with one out in the bottom fourth when Tyrone Taylor lined out to left fielder MJ Melendez, who threw a perfect strike to Perez. The 33-year old catcher applied the tag to Starling Marte, who collided with Perez on the slide. A few seconds later, after Perez showed the ball to home-plate umpire Chris Segal, Marte was called out.

Perez was able to get up under his own power, but had a severe limp on his way to the dugout. He was taken out of the game and replaced at catcher by Freddy Fermin.

“I thought I made a good pitch,” Ragans said. “MJ made a great throw. It was like one of those freak accidents. We got out of it. Good throw by MJ. Good tag by Salvy. It was one of those freaky things.”

The Royals are headed to Chicago to begin a three-game series against the White Sox. Perez will be reevaluated on Monday.

“Right now, we think it’s a groin strain, but we have to get more tests when we get to Chicago,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said.