Perez homers into history
CLEVELAND — It was somehow appropriate that Roberto Perez was Cleveland’s big hitting star in their Game 1 win Tuesday night. These are the anonymous Indians, after all, at least in comparison to the Cubs, whose big names and bigger drought have been getting so much attention this October, and who’s more anonymous than a former backup catcher once drafted in the 33rd round?
The world knows his name now, though. And everybody is familiar with most of the company he’s keeping after he became only the fifth catcher to slug two home runs in a World Series game. Perez’s long balls and four RBI helped the Indians grab the World Series opener, 6-0, at Progressive Field.
“I think I’ve never had a night like that,” Perez said. “It was huge…I probably hit two mistakes, but I couldn’t believe it.”
The last catcher to hit two home runs in a World Series game? Met fans, you probably know: Gary Carter in Game 4 of the 1986 Fall Classic. The first? Yankee fans, you probably know: Yogi Berra in Game 7 in 1956. The others are Johnny Bench in 1976 and Gene Tenace in 1972.
No Clevelander at any position had ever hit two home runs in a Series game before Tuesday. Perez is also the first Puerto Rican-born player to do it and the first player to homer twice while hitting in the ninth spot in the batting order.
“Their nine-hole hitter, Perez, kicked us, man,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said.
“What he did at the plate, my goodness, that was exciting to watch,” added Cleveland manager Terry Francona.
Several other Indians served notice that they deserve at least as much pub as MVP candidates Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo and we’re not just talking about Corey Kluber, the former Cy Young Award winner who threw six terrific innings of shutout ball, striking out nine.
Francisco Lindor, just 22 years old, seized the big stage, too, though if you don’t know who he is, you’re not paying enough attention. He only looks like the American League’s next great shortstop. Jose Ramirez had a breakout season and bounced back from a bad ALCS with three hits Tuesday night, including a dribbler toward third that knocked in the first run of the game.
Perez, though, he’s a real unknown. Yes, he’s caught every inning this postseason, since the Indians lost Yan Gomes for the year. But the club tried to replace Gomes by trading for Met target Jonathan Lucroy, who nixed a deal to Cleveland and was swapped to Texas instead.
Perez also had surgery to repair a fractured thumb in May, so he was out from May 1 to July 17. A 27-yearold from Mayaguez who is mostly known as a defensive specialist with soft hands and an innate ability for pitch framing, Perez hit only three homers and batted .183 in 153 regular-season at-bats. He’s got three homers in 27 at-bats already this postseason — he became the first Indian to homer in his first postseason appearance when he jacked one off Boston’s Rick Porcello in the division series. “I’ve come a long ways,” Perez said. “I’m just playing with a lot of confidence right now. I’m not trying to do too much at the plate. I’m just trying to control my emotions. First World Series experience, and just trying to go out there and compete and try to get good ABs up there, and try to get on base and make something happen. It’s an unbelievable feeling.”
“I think his confidence, you can see it growing every game,” added Kluber. “You can see the difference just in the way he feels about himself right now.”
Kluber, who set a strikeout record for a Cleveland pitcher in a World Series game, said Perez’s framing helped. Six of Kluber’s nine Ks were on called strike threes. Perez’s game-calling helped, too, as the Indians shut down an offense that was bludgeoning the Dodgers at the end of the NLCS.
“It’s almost like he knew what they were looking for,” Kluber said. “He had them off balance for the majority of the night. Really the only time that they got hits was really when I didn’t execute a pitch. If I did what he asked me to, then it worked pretty well.”
Perez’s first homer came in the fourth inning off Cubs’ starter Jon Lester, a 391-foot shot that clanged off a railing above the left-field fence and bounded back onto the field. MLB.com’s Statcast measured the exit velocity of the drive at 112.9 miles per hour, making it the hardest hit ball off Lester all season. Pretty good, considering that Lester is a Cy Young candidate in the National League. The second one came in the eighth inning against Hector Rondon, a three-run drive that went 382 feet and doubled the Indians’ 3-0 lead to 6-0.
“That wasn’t looking like a 6-0 game,” Francona noted. “So it’s nice. Everybody was happy for him. You could see the way they reacted to it.”
And now Perez, a 33rd-round pick in 2008, is in some lofty company and these Indians, underdogs in this Series, are in the lead.