ST. PETERSBURG -- Salvador Perez knew he made the perfect throw at the perfect time for the Royals to seal a win Friday night, so he flashed a smile as he shuffled around in a half-circle to celebrate.
A new dance move, perhaps.
“Felt a cramp in my hammy, so had to move a little bit,” Perez said, winking. “It’s my new dance. I’m just kidding. You know, we did our best. They took a chance, tried to steal. I made a good throw.”
“Best dance of the year, too,” manager Mike Matheny added.
The Royals had plenty of reasons to bust a move after Friday’s 3-2 win over the Rays in 10 innings snapped a four-game losing streak and evened the four-game series at Tropicana Field.
And most of the celebrating had to do with Kansas City's defense, with three plays standing out and helping put the win in the books:
Singer’s move maintains momentum
Making his second start in his home state of his career, starter Brady Singer didn’t have his best stuff, nor the pinpoint command he’s shown as of late. But he was able to navigate his way to his sixth quality start in his last seven outings, yielding two runs in six innings with four walks and seven strikeouts.
His biggest moment actually didn’t have to do with any pitch he threw.
After the Royals took the lead on Bobby Witt Jr.’s two-run homer in the top of the third, Singer was facing Randy Arozarena with two outs in the bottom of the frame. That's when Perez signaled through PitchCom that Singer should try to pick off Harold Ramírez, who had a large lead at second base.
“He did it once, I looked down and was like, ‘Are we doing this?’” Singer said. “And then he did it again, and I was like, ‘We’re doing it.’ So it was more patience than anything, waiting for the drop glove to happen, trying not to make a move and balk.”
Once Perez dropped his glove to signal Singer’s throw, the right-hander turned around and fired to Nicky Lopez, who stumbled as he applied the tag for the out.
The Rays challenged, and Ramírez was insistent that the tag missed, but the call stood.
“That was one of the plays that helped us win the game today,” Perez said.
Salvy’s strike catches Quinn
The play that caused Perez’s new dance move was an instant classic for the five-time Gold Glove catcher. After Quinn didn’t attempt to advance on Yandy Díaz’s groundout or on two balls that Scott Barlow -- who went two innings to pick up the win -- threw in the dirt, Perez was pretty sure the speedy outfielder was going to try to steal.
“He’s fast,” Perez said. “I was surprised that he didn’t go before Díaz hit the ground ball to the middle. I made a couple blocks, one got away from me. That was confusing a little bit. So I thought, ‘Maybe he’ll try to steal.’ I was ready."
By the time Quinn slid into third, Witt was waiting with the ball in his glove, and Perez was starting to dance.
“Got in my head a little bit,” Quinn said. “Almost like, he probably knew it was coming. It was bang-bang. Perfect tag, perfect throw.”
Melendez makes ‘gutsy' plays in outfield
The highlight reel from this game will feature Melendez’s diving grab for the final out, and rightfully so. Melendez sprinted toward the left-field line, reading a ball that had just a 60% likelihood of being caught, per Statcast, and laid out to seal the win.
“That was a gutsy play. He's fearless,” Matheny said. “It’s just fun to watch guys use the skills they’ve been given without any reservation.”
But Melendez, who is still mastering playing the outfield, might not have been making that game-ending grab had he not made another play in the bottom of the ninth on Rays shortstop Taylor Walls’ slicing hit to deep left field.
Melendez got over to the ball before it got to the wall, then had to go against his momentum to make a throw to second, where Walls was sliding in. Walls did beat the throw, but he came off the bag.
And Michael Massey -- who drove in the game-winning run with his sacrifice fly in the 10th -- kept the tag on Walls for the out.
“I knew as soon as I hit it who was playing there,” Walls said. “Being in left field, he's not always there; he's probably not the most comfortable. He's never played at this field, on this turf, and the ball was kind of slicing away from him. With him having to go to his right, throw against his momentum and not having played there a lot, the throw would have to be perfect.”