Pérez sharp, Hernández and Marsee homer in Marlins' 7th straight win vs. Nats

MIAMI -- For the past two months, right-hander Eury Pérez has given the Marlins a steady dose of impressive pitching every time he has taken the mound. Saturday was no different.

Pérez allowed one earned run in five innings and the Marlins beat the Nationals 4-2 at loanDepot park, notching their seventh consecutive win against their National League East foe while continuing their success at home. They improved to 40-25 on their home turf.

Unlike Friday’s 3-2 win to begin their six-game homestand, when the Marlins scored their runs in the final two innings, they generated offense early Saturday, building a 3-0 lead over the first two innings.

Otto Lopez brought home Griffin Conine and Owen Caissie with a first-inning single that appeared to graze Dylan Crews’ glove as he dove for it in right field. Heriberto Hernández then led off the second inning by belting Jake Irvin’s 93-mph fastball a Statcast-projected 393 feet to left field.

Hernández’s team-leading 19th home run had a 109.2 mph exit velocity.

That was more than enough offense for Pérez to work with. Regularly reaching 99 mph with his four-seam fastball, he didn’t allow a hit until José Tena’s infield single in the fourth inning. A throwing error by Lopez allowed Abimelec Ortiz to score an unearned run, ending Pérez’s scoreless innings streak at 16.

Pérez entered Saturday having made back-to-back scoreless starts and had a 1.80 ERA over his last 10 starts -- seven of them quality starts -- since coming off the injured list June 24. The 23-year-old missed nearly a month because of an inner thigh strain.

The Marlins extended their lead to 4-1 in the fourth as Jakob Marsee led off with a Statcast-projected 379-foot homer to right.

The Nationals answered in the fifth, cutting the deficit to 4-2 on Crews’ two-out double.

Esteury Ruiz appeared to make a stellar diving catch on the play, but the ball shot out of his glove as he crashed to the turf. Ruiz grabbed his left wrist in pain, had it looked at briefly on the field and stayed in the game.

Reliever Michael Peterson took over for Pérez to start the sixth.