Perez breaks record in Royals' win

CLEVELAND (AP) — Salvador Perez hit his 46th home run, breaking Johnny Bench's record for homers by a catcher in a season, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Cleveland Indians 7-2 Monday in the first game of a doubleheader.

Perez hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning, topping Bench's total from 1970 for the most by a player who played at least 75% of his team's games at catcher.

Starting again behind the plate — the durable All-Star has seen some time at designated hitter — Perez drove a 1-2 pitch from Triston McKenzie into the left field bleachers, a drive that traveled 429 feet.

Perez also moved into a tie for the major league lead in homers with Toronto's Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Perez leads the majors with 115 RBIs.

Hunter Dozier and Andrew Benintendi also hit two-run homers for the Royals.

Brady Singer (5-10), activated from the COVID-19-related injured list before the game, allowed two runs in seven innings.

Dozier hit his 14th homer in the second and added an RBI single in the fourth. Benintendi hit his 16th homer in the fourth.

McKenzie (5-7) gave up all three home runs and allowed seven runs in 4 1/3 innings.

José Ramírez had a tworun single for Cleveland.