Watch: Perez makes Indians history with dagger HR
On a night when Cleveland's biggest stars shined, Roberto Perez somehow managed to steal the show.
Perez, the Indians catcher who started just 53 games this season, added to his unlikely playoff resume Tuesday with a pair of home runs and four runs batted in during Game 1 against the Chicago Cubs, including a towering three-run shot in the eighth that sealed Cleveland's 6-0 shutout.
The blast off Cubs reliever Hector Rondon was Perez's second of the game, making him the first catcher to accomplish that feat during the World Series since Gary Carter in Game 4 of the 1986 Fall Classic, according to Baseball Reference. Perez's first homer came back in the fourth inning, a solo shot off Jon Lester to give the Indians' a 3-0 lead.
Team | Player | Date | Gm | Opp | HR | RBI |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NYM | Gary Carter | 1986-10-22 | 4 | BOS | 2 | 3 |
CIN | Johnny Bench | 1976-10-21 | 4 | NYY | 2 | 5 |
OAK | Gene Tenace | 1972-10-14 | 1 | CIN | 2 | 3 |
NYY | Yogi Berra | 1956-10-10 | 7 | BRO | 2 | 4 |
The multi-homer effort gave Perez three this postseason, matching his regular-season total over 61 games. He's the first Indians catcher to ever hit two homers in the World Series.
Perez's big bat backed dominant performances on the mound from Corey Kluber and Andrew Miller, who limited the Cubs to six hits and just two of the extra-inning variety.
Kluber struck out nine in six frames - including a World Series-record eight batters through the first three innings - while Miller tossed two scoreless innings on a season-high 46 pitches.