Eury Perez’s latest gem leads Marlins to series-clinching win over Pirates. Takeaways from the game
With every passing start, Miami Marlins right-handed pitcher Eury Perez keeps finding ways to make the remarkable start of his burgeoning MLB career even more impressive.
The latest performance for the 20-year-old wunderkind came Sunday. Perez threw six shutout innings for a third consecutive start to lead the Marlins to a 2-0, series-clinching win over the Pittsburgh Pirates at loanDepot park. Miami took three of four games in the set, winning 6-4 on Thursday and 4-3 in 11 innings on Saturday while dropping the Friday game 3-1. The Marlins are now 45-34 on the season, while the Pirates fall to 35-42.
They have Perez to thank for leading the way Sunday. He worked around four hits and a walk to keep Pittsburgh scoreless during his six innings of work. The 6-8 righty also struck out nine batters for a second consecutive outing.
“You hear about these top prospects all the time coming up and it usually takes a while to get your feet underneath you at the big-league level,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “These are good lineups that he’s going through right now and it’s shutout after shutout and he’s not going just four or five innings. He’s going into the sixth now.”
Over his last six starts, Perez has allowed just one earned run in 33 innings of work — good for a 0.27 ERA in that span.
He is the youngest pitcher since at least 1901 to pitch six shutout innings over three consecutive starts.
“It may look easy,” Perez said, “but it’s not. Every time you go out there, you’ve got to go and compete. Sometimes you have pitches that don’t work and you have to make adjustments.”
Perez had to do that Sunday. He wasn’t happy with his pregame bullpen session. His changeup wasn’t working well. Nor was his curveball. So Perez and catcher Nick Fortes primarily had to go fastball-slider to maneuver through the outing.
And they made it look seamless.
“We’re fortunate to watch what’s happening,” Schumaker said. “I haven’t seen it before like this from a pitcher. I’ve never seen a pitcher do this at this age at this level. It’s really impressive.”
Center fielder Jonathan Davis opened scoring with a 414-foot home run to left field to lead off the third inning. Yuli Gurriel added an RBI single in the eighth.
Steven Okert, Andrew Nardi and A.J. Puk pitched three shutout innings out of the bullpen to secure the shutout, with Puk earning his team-leading 11th save.
Here are three takeaways from the game.
How do Marlins handle Eury Perez moving forward?
As dominant as Perez has been — and he has been one of the best pitchers in baseball over the past month-plus — the Marlins still plan to be protective of their top prospect.
After pitching six innings on Sunday, he has now thrown 47 innings in nine MLB starts. Add to that the 31 innings he threw in six starts with Double A Pensacola before being promoted, and Perez already has pitched 78 innings this season. That matches the most he has thrown in a season since making his professional debut. He threw 78 innings in 2021 and 77 innings in 2022.
“Obviously you see the talent,” Marlins general manager Kim Ng said, “but he is someone we really need to take care of. This is a really important stage in his career.”
What that looks like is still being decided. Right now, Perez is lined up to have two more starts before the All-Star Break: Saturday on the road against the Atlanta Braves and July 6 at home against the St. Louis Cardinals.
As for what Ng has seen out of Perez?
“He’s as advertised,” Ng said. “The idea that this guy could come up and translate as he has to the big leagues is a testament to him. He’s been very good.”
Schumaker said the discussions about how to handle Perez’s innings moving forward, which could include having him skip starts or go temporarily go back to the minor leagues where he would pitch less frequently, will be “tough.”
“But,” Schumaker said, “it’s just part of where he’s at and where we’re at. I also think we’re very lucky to have had him this early for this long and for this many starts. Every time he’s been out there, we’ve had a chance to win or have won.”
Bullpen redemption
On Saturday, it was Nardi who got his redemption when he struck out the side in the 11th inning one appearance after giving up a pair of solo home runs.
On Sunday, it was Puk who took advantage of a chance to rebound. After blowing the save in Friday’s loss, Puk retired the side in the series finale to cap the win.
How will Marlins look as key road trip begins?
The Marlins now head on their final road trip ahead of the All-Star Break, starting Tuesday with a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox and wrapping up with a three-game set against the Braves over the weekend.
The Red Sox, despite being in fifth place in the American League East, are 40-39 on the season. The Braves are the only team ahead of the Marlins in the National League East with a 50-27 record.
How Miami fares over those six games will provide a clearer gauge of where the team stands as it heads into July.
And the Marlins are expected to get some reinforcements back on the road trip as well. Center fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. is trending toward being activated from the injured list on the trip, perhaps as early as the start of the Boston series. Third baseman Jean Segura could be cleared to return from a hamstring injury at some point during the week as well.
That means two position-player roster moves will need to be made. Shortstop prospect Jacob Amaya going back to Triple A is the most likely option for one of the moves. Utility player Garrett Hampson would be the logical option for the second.
This story was originally published June 25, 2023 at 3:49 PM.
.JPG)