The Kansas City Royals relied on the bat of Salvador Perez to dig out of an early deficit to the Cleveland Guardians, winning the nightcap of a doubleheader Monday in Cleveland to get within one game of the AL Central lead.

With the game tied at 4-4 in the fifth inning, Perez launched a solo shot to left center field to give the Royals the lead. The next inning saw him do the same, only this time the bases were loaded, giving the captain his sixth career grand slam, tying him with Frank White for the most in a Royals uniform. Perez would finish the game with six runs batted in.

The Guardians sought revenge for losing the earlier game 4-3, quickly grabbing three runs in the first inning. The Royals didn’t help their cause early, with throwing errors by Dairon Blanco and starting pitcher Alec Marsh gifting two of those runs. The Royals grabbed those runs back, with Paul DeJong’s home run in the second and a groundout from Perez in the third that scored Maikel Garcia. The Royals would take the lead in the fourth with a single from Garrett Hampson and sacrifice fly from Garcia, only for Cleveland to tie the game in the fifth with a solo home run.

Sam Long picked up the win for the Royals, going 1.1 innings, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out two. Daniel Lynch IV returned from the injury list to post a three-inning save, also limiting the Guardians to one run and one hit with one punchout. Before the doubleheader, reliever Angel Zerpa was optioned to AAA Omaha to make room for Lynch on the roster.

The Royals jump to 74-58, just a game behind Cleveland for the AL Central lead. Game three of the four-game series is Tuesday evening, with pregame on KMMO AM 1300 at 5 p.m. First pitch will be on KMMO-FM 102.9 at 5:40.

A programming note to pass along: KMMO AM will cut away from the Royals at 7 p.m. to bring you the first Tiger Talk of the season.