Freddy

Fermin

The game was scoreless until the 11th, when both teams managed one run. The Red Sox then went scoreless in the 12th before the Royals scored right away in the bottom of the inning. It was Fermin’s first hit in five at-bats in the contest.

Perez will sit out his second straight game after making an early exit from Thursday’s game against the Rays with left hip soreness. The 34-year-old ironman rarely misses any action, so it’s notable that he’s getting some extra time off to rest and recover. Fantasy managers should consider him day-to-day for now. It’ll be Freddy Fermin handling the catching duties in his absence.

Fermin started a total of nine of the Royals’ first 25 games, but they are more frequently going with Salvador Perez at DH now, probably in part because their designated hitters have been terrible. As a team, they’re batting .191/.271/.348, and that’s with Perez hitting .316/.350/.579 in his five starts.

There haven’t been any rumblings of any sort of injury, so it sounds like it’s just a regular day of rest for the hard-hitting backstop. Freddy Fermin will start behind the plate and will bat eighth for the Royals against Astros’ right-hander Hayden Wesneski.

After both teams failed to score in the 10th inning of this one, the Royals loaded the bases with no outs in the 11th. Fermin then strolled to the dish against Tyler Kinley and after fouling off a tough 0-2 offering, he singled into center to bring in Mark Canha with the winning run. He’s off to a painfully slow start at the plate this season, slashing a meager .212/.257/.303 with one home run and three RBI in his first 35 plate appearances.

Pasquantino got the day off on Tuesday but is right back in the lineup on Wednesday. His hamstring is still an issue, which is why he’s not able to play the field. Salvador Perez is at first base on Wednesday with Freddy Fermin catching.

Fermin opened the scoring in the first inning with a line drive single to right off of Randy Vásquez. He added another RBI knock off of Vásquez in the second and rode home on Harold Castro’s two-run blast. The hard-hitting backstop then put the game out of reach with a two-run single off of Raul Brito in the third inning making it a 10-2 ballgame. Fermin is an interesting option for batting average in the later rounds of deep two-catcher leagues, but that’s about as far as his usefulness goes from a fantasy perspective.

It was an encouraging sign to see Gurriel back in Kansas City’s lineup on Friday evening following a two-game absence due to a mild hamstring strain. It’ll be Salvador Perez taking a turn at first base with Freddy Fermin handling the catching duties. The 40-year-old figures to continue playing everyday at first base for the Royals down the home stretch. There’s minimal appeal here for fantasy managers outside of extremely deep mixed leagues.

Pasquantino’s arm got run into by Yainer Díaz on a play at first base, and he appeared to be in considerable pain afterwards. Salvador Perez took over for him at first base tonight. If Pasquantino goes on the IL, the Royals will likely recall either CJ Alexander or Nick Loftin, and they could mix and match with Perez and maybe Paul DeJong or Adam Frazier at first. Freddy Fermin would often catch in that scenario. Nick Pratto might also be an option for a callup, but he’s been pretty bad in Triple-A.

Salvador Perez will slide to designated hitter, but the Royals continue to find ways to get Fermin’s bat in the lineup after hitting .307 in 27 games since the All-Star break with two home runs, nine runs scored, and 14 RBI. He’s a fringe option in one-catcher formats with his expanded playing time.