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Royals' Perez gets assist off face of Rangers' Choo, throws out runner

By Alex Butler
Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez. File photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI
Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez. File photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo

May 25 (UPI) -- Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez recently threw out a runner on second base after an assist from Shin-Soo Choo's face.

The peculiar play occurred in the bottom of the first inning of the Royals' 8-2 win against the Texas Rangers Thursday at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas.

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Choo was at the plate facing Royals starter Danny Duffy. The left hander had just allowed a single to Delino DeShields when Choo stepped to the plate.

Choo took a called strike before taking an 82.4-mph slider for a ball. Duffy's third offering -- an 84.7-mph slider -- went into the dirt. The low and outside pitch bounced off of Perez's glove and hit Choo right between the eyes.

Perez managed to grab the ball off of the dirt and gun it to second base. His throw was right on line to shortstop Alcides Escobar, beating DeShields to the base for an out.

Choo ended up walking in his exchange with Duffy. The southpaw sat down the next two batters to escape the inning unscathed.

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Kansas City got on the board with Ramon Torres brining in two runners on an RBI single in the top of the second inning. Perez plated four runs with RBI singles in the fifth frame and seventh inning. Whit Merrifield added two more runs to the scoreboard with an RBI double in the top of the eighth inning.

The Rangers got an RBI single from Rougned Odor in the bottom of the eighth frame and scored their final run with Isiah Kiner-Falefa's ground-rule double in the bottom of the ninth inning.

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