Comebacks and collisions have defined the Royals strange week

Take about a roller coaster of emotions. The Kansas City Royals have run the gamut this week between their comeback victories and vicious collisions. In fact, they ran the gamut in the ninth inning alone on Saturday, first losing catcher Salvador Perez to a quad injury, and then rallying to score seven runs in the final frame to knock off the Chicago White Sox, 8-7.

The wild victory was Kansas City's second consecutive comeback win against Chicago, and it temporarily moved them into a first place tie in the AL Central. The Cleveland Indians still have a chance to leapfrog both with their own win on Saturday.

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The Royals entered that ninth inning trailing 7-1, and appeared to have the wind taken from their sails when Perez went down. But the resilience that made them World Series champions last season quickly came to the forefront. Kansas City scored seven runs on six hits and four walks in the frame, with six runs being charged to White Sox closer David Robertson.

Fittingly, it was Perez's replacement, Drew Butera, who had the biggest hit in the frame. He tied the game with a two-out double, then eventually scored the winning run on Brett Eibner's RBI single.

That's the Royals for you. Everyone contributes, even the names you may not recognize. Now, those are the guys they'll be counting on with their roster currently depleted by injury.

Speaking of which, Perez went down in a collision with Cheslor Cuthbert, who's currently replacing Mike Moustakas at third base. That's because Moustakas was lost for the season after colliding with Alex Gordon six days ago in Chicago. Moustakas suffered a torn ACL, while Gordon injured his wrist, sending him to the disabled list as well.

There was definite concern for Perez, who appeared to take the impact directly on his left knee.

However, it sounds like there's some encouraging news on his condition.

He's not completely out of the woods yet, but there were certainly visions of another season-ending injury going through Royals' fans minds.

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It's possible there's something more serious going on with his quad, but all fans can do right now is wait and hope that Perez can return soon.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813