Salvador Perez is nursing a thumb contusion as Houston prepares to visit Kauffman Stadium, a small but meaningful wrinkle for a Royals team that has leaned on him all season. Royals broadcaster Rex Hudler said Perez has been banged up, but Kansas City is still expecting big things from him the rest of the way.

The timing matters because the Astros are not arriving just for a routine series. Kauffman Stadium is the same place where Houston’s 2015 ALDS Game 5 loss still lingers for Astros fans, and Perez and Jose Altuve were both holdovers from that matchup. This meeting carries that old edge, even if the stakes now are more about stabilizing two clubs than settling an old score.

Hudler put Perez at the center of the Royals’ plans. “Salvy is the straw that stirs the Royals drink!” he said, while adding that the club is relying on Perez despite the thumb issue. That dependence cuts both ways. Kansas City has talked about simply trying to finish.500 after a dismal start, which is a modest target for a team that still needs its biggest name to carry more of the load.

There is more behind the matchup than Perez alone. Hudler said Michael Wacha has been as consistent as any big-league starter and praised his fastball-changeup combination as one of the best in baseball. He also called Wacha a bargaining chip, saying contenders will be interested before the trade deadline. That puts another layer on a Royals roster that is trying to hold together while also sorting out what it may look like in a few weeks.

The offense around Perez has been uneven, but Hudler said Vinnie Pasquantino has started to heat up after two months of no run production, helped by more walks and more use of the opposite field. Chris Bubic, meanwhile, is still a couple of starts from joining the rotation after being injured. The bullpen, Hudler said, is finally settled after early trouble from Erceg, who blew five saves, with Alex Lang stepping up and manager Matt Quatraro showing confidence in him.

Houston would like to leave Kansas City with the kind of road sweep it pulled off last month at Wrigley, and that gives this series a little more bite than a midseason stop usually has. For the Royals, the sharper question is whether Perez’s thumb holds up well enough to match the expectations around him. If it does not, Kansas City’s hope of finishing around.500 gets harder to imagine, because the club’s most important bat is the one carrying the most wear.