Salvador Perez homered and the Kansas City Royals beat the Oakland Athletics 5-1 on Sunday to avoid being swept in the series between teams with the worst records in the major leagues.

Kansas City (9-26) lost two of three to the A’s (8-27) and dropped to 1-10 in series this season.

Perez went 3 for 4 with a 462-foot home run over the left-field fountains and scored three times. Maikel Garcia scored Perez with an RBI single, giving the Royals a 2-1 lead in the fourth.

Nick Pratto hit a two-run double in the eighth to highlight a three-run inning.

Ryan Yarbrough (1-4) pitched 5 2/3 innings and allowed one run on three hits with two strikeouts and a hit batter. Yarbrough was removed from the game in the sixth after getting hit in the face by a liner that was 106.2 mph off the bat of Ryan Noda. Yarbrough was able to walk off the field with the assistance of trainers.

Royals relievers Carlos Hernandez, Aroldis Chapman and Scott Barlow each tossed scoreless outings.

UP NEXT

Royals: RHP Zack Greinke (1-4, 5.25 ERA) opens a three-game series with the White Sox in the first meeting between AL Central foes in 2023 and just the second different divisional opposition of the season for Kansas City.