Kansas City Royals All-Star catcher Salvador Perez returned to the lineup Wednesday night against the Detroit Tigers after missing two games with a left hamstring strain.
Perez, the team captain, was in the lineup batting fourth against Detroit.
Perez, 33, was injured while running the bases during Sunday's victory against the Tampa Bay Rays. Perez was 6-for-9 in the series before leaving with the injury.
The eight-time All-Star is batting .258 with 15 homers and 40 RBIs in 84 games this season. Two seasons ago, Perez tied for the major-league with 48 homers and led the big leagues with 121 RBIs.
The long-time Royals star has 238 career homers, 772 RBIs and a .267 batting average in 1,338 games since breaking into the majors with Kansas City in 2021. He also has won five Gold Gloves for his stellar defense.
In other Royals news, left-hander Daniel Lynch was placed on the injured list with a strained shoulder.
Lynch, one of the Royals' bright young starters, missed the first two months of the season with a similar strain. He was on a hot streak before the All-Star break, allowing three runs or fewer in four straight starts, but Lynch experienced a dip in velocity while going six inning on July 7 in Cleveland and it continued during Tuesday night's start against Detroit.
Lynch earned the win, but allowed five runs over five innings against the Tigers.
Reliever Austin Cox was recalled from Triple-A Omaha to take Lynch's spot on the roster.
The Royals plan to keep Lynch throwing side sessions on the injured list with the expectation that he will rejoin the club in two weeks. In the meantime, they have Zack Greinke ready to return from the list Thursday and take Lynch's spot in the rotation.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
