Kansas City Royals star Salvador Perez scratched from the starting lineup in Chicago

The Kansas City Royals scratched star catcher and slugger Salvador Perez from the starting lineup shortly before Wednesday night’s game in Chicago due to back tightness.

Perez, who hit his team-leading 19th home run on Tuesday night, appeared in the original starting lineup submitted by the Royals. He was slated to catch and bat third.

However, the club released an updated lineup without Perez and with rookie MJ Melendez catching. Melendez had been in the starting lineup in left field and batting leadoff. He remained in the leadoff spot after being moved to catcher.

Nick Pratto moved from the cleanup spot in the batting order to the No. 3 hole, which gave the Royals rookies in each of the top three spots in the batting order with Melendez leading off in front of third baseman Bobby Witt Jr. followed by Pratto.

Kyle Isbel, who was not in the initial starting lineup, was inserted into the lineup as the starting left fielder.

Perez’s status is considered day-to-day, according to the Royals.

Perez had homered in back-to-back games for the Royals on Sunday and Tuesday. The Royals did not play on Monday. Perez also had back-to-back three-hit games with three RBIs on Tuesday and two RBIs on Sunday.

Since returning from thumb surgery in late July, Perez has slashed .295/.323/.525 with eight home runs and 29 RBIs in 31 games.

For the season, Perez has slashed .241/.279/.461 with 19 home runs and 63 RBIs in 88 games.