Salvy gets early rest in lopsided loss to Tigers

KANSAS CITY -- Royals catcher Salvador Perez left a game early again on Friday night but it had nothing to do with any concussion-like symptoms. He was just getting an early break from the 16-2 beating dealt out by the Tigers.

"Everything is good," Perez said after the loss. "Everything is fine. I'll go tomorrow again."

Perez played four innings and went 0-for-2 at the plate. With the Tigers ahead, 10-1, he was replaced behind the plate by George Kottaras.

"I took everybody out after four or five innings and everybody's fine," manager Ned Yost said. "He's fine, it was just one of those games where you get the guys that have been playing every day off their feet."

Perez left Thursday's 7-6 win over the Mariners in the fifth of 13 innings because of mild dizziness after taking the latest foul ball off the chin of his face mask. He had missed a week in August because of a concussion.

"When they did all of the impact tests that they do after that, he had score of 84 out of 85 so there was not that much concern yesterday," Yost said before Friday night's game. "He came back in and was absolutely perfect. We got him in the weight room, did some cardio to get his heart rate up and there was no change so he's a full-go."

Yost also indicated that Perez again would try the helmeted hockey-style mask to alleviate the risk of foul balls, but the catcher decided to stick with his usual mask.

"I've tried it before," Perez said. "I just don't feel comfortable. I feel fine with my old one. You can't do anything about getting hit by foul tips. It's going to happen to everybody."

Because of his big size, Perez also tends to crouch a bit farther back from home plate than normal and Yost is encouraging him to move closer to the batter.

"We're going to try to scoot him up under the hitters a little bit closer to see if maybe he can dodge some foul balls that way and just see what it happens," Yost said.

Often in a playoff chase, players will disregard injuries to stay in the lineup, but Yost said that would never happen with him in the case of a head or concussion-type injury.

"If he came in today with any symptoms then, boom, no he wasn't going to play. But he was totally symptom-free. It's totally black-and-white for me," Yost said.

Major League Baseball has taken a firm stance on such injuries, requiring concussion tests. Second baseman Chris Getz has passed those tests and was awaiting MLB clearance to resume playing.

Getz left Tuesday's 4-3 win over the Mariners after two innings because of mild dizziness and hasn't played since. He also has a history of concussions, missing the last three weeks of the 2010 season.

Center fielder Lorenzo Cain, who'd been out with an oblique pull, is able to hit now and got two at-bats after going into right field in the sixth inning on Friday night. He went hitless, but got in some game-action swings for the first time in nearly a month.