KANSAS CITY, MO. (September 2, 2021) – The Kansas City Royals announced today that catcher Salvador Perez and right-handed pitcher Carlos Hernández have been named Royals Player and Pitcher of the Month, respectively, for the month of August. The awards are determined by a local media vote. 

Perez, 31, led the Majors with 12 home runs and 28 RBI last month, matching the club record for homers in any calendar month. Seven of his 12 homers in August either tied the game or gave the Royals a lead, including both of his homers on August 10 vs. the Yankees. Ten days later, on August 20 at Wrigley Field, he recorded his 11th career multi-homer game and fifth this season, the most multi-homer games within one season in franchise history. Salvy matched a club record by homering in five consecutive games from August 25-29, tying Mike Sweeney’s record that was set from June 25-29, 2002. His most recent homer on Sunday in Seattle was the 190th of his career, matching Alex Gordon for fourth most in Royals history. It was also his 38th of the season, matching Mike Moustakas (2017) for the second-highest single-season total in franchise history. Perez hit grand slams in back-to-back games last Thursday and Friday in Seattle, becoming the 25th player in AL/NL history, according to Elias, to hit a grand slam in back-to-back team games, and just the third to do it as a catcher, joining Hall of Famers Mike Piazza and Bill Dickey. Perez had eight homers and 16 RBI on the recent 10-game trip from August 20-29, becoming the first player in Royals history, according to Elias, with an eight-homer trip, and the first player in the Majors to do it since Ryan Zimmerman in 2013. Perez was named American League Player of the Week for the period of August 23-29, becoming the third Royals catcher to earn the honor. This is Perez’s fifth Royals Player of the Month Award and third this season, after winning the honor in April and July.

Hernández, 24, went 2-0 in August across five appearances (4 starts), with a 2.08 ERA (7 ER in 30.1 IP), which ranked sixth among qualified pitchers in the American League. Four of the seven runs he allowed came in one start on August 16 vs. Houston, but in his other three starts, he allowed one run in 5.0 innings on Aug. 4 at the White Sox, one run in 6.2 innings on August 9 vs. the Yankees and one run in a career-high 7.0 innings with a career-best eight strikeouts on August 22 at Wrigley Field. In his most recent appearance last Friday in Seattle, he allowed one hit and one unearned run in 5.2 innings of relief, retiring the first 14 he faced to help extend a 5-5 tie into extras, a game which the Royals eventually won in 12 innings. The Royals won four of the five games in which he pitched last month, and he held opponents to a .192 average (20-for-104), fifth best in the American League.