Marlins lose RHP Pérez to IL with leg strain requiring 8-week recovery period

NEW YORK -- The Marlins will be without right-hander Eury Pérez for eight weeks after imaging revealed a right gracilis strain in his inner thigh, the club announced ahead of Friday's series opener against the Mets at Citi Field.

"Injuries are a part of a Major League season, and we're certainly not the only team that is either currently dealing with them or has, so certainly no one's going to feel sorry for you, just like we wouldn't feel sorry for anyone that's having to deal with their own setbacks," manager Clayton McCullough said. "You just have to come out and continue to play. It's a team thing, so guys just have to continue to step up, and that's all you can do."

Pérez, who had struck out a season-high nine batters over four scoreless innings in Wednesday afternoon’s 2-1 loss to the Blue Jays in Toronto, was spotted by the Marlins.TV broadcast doing his normal stretching routine to stay loose in between innings. Once he sat down, he appeared in visible pain and was attended to by a member of the training staff before being helped down the tunnel by Sandy Alcantara.

The 23-year-old righty underwent testing on Thursday's off-day to reveal the severity, which forced Miami to place him on the 15-day injured list.

“I was just having a conversation with our pitching coach and suddenly I felt tightness right there in my leg and I couldn’t get up,” Pérez said via interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. postgame Wednesday. “I would say on a scale from 1-10, I would give a 10. It was very painful. I knew I was not going to be able to go out there, and that was the same thought from our coaches, and we decided to go inside and just take a look at it.”

Pérez had some of his best stuff working in the 73-pitch outing, recording his first five outs via the K and throwing the second-fastest pitch of his career (101 mph four-seamer) to strike out former teammate Jesús Sánchez. In his first full season removed from April 2024 elbow surgery, he appeared to be turning the corner during an inconsistent '26 season (4.60 ERA) with back-to-back strong starts.

"It's a young pitcher that still had a lot of experiences to gain from just getting the chance to take the ball at the Major League level every fifth or sixth day," McCullough said. "[He] had had some inconsistencies ... The stuff was terrific, how he was using his entire mix. That's the most frustrating part is you sense a little bit that maybe this was a player that was starting to get on a little bit of a roll, put some things together, and now he's obviously going to have to miss a significant amount of time with that.

"Our medical group's great. Eury understands where he's at with things right now. All he can do is try to get himself back healthy as quickly as he can, and so then we'll pick it right back up."

Until Pérez's spot in the rotation comes up Tuesday in Washington, the Marlins recalled right-handed reliever Josh Ekness as the corresponding roster move.

Pérez's injury is the latest blow to Miami's starting-pitching depth this month. The organization designated for assignment struggling veteran Chris Paddack and replaced him with No. 2 prospect Robby Snelling, who recently underwent season-ending elbow surgery. Lefty Braxton Garrett replaced him but got optioned to Triple-A Jacksonville after two short starts because of lack of command. The Marlins then converted reliever Tyler Phillips to a starting role, and he is slated to make his second start on Saturday.

Forty-man options at Triple-A Jacksonville that could fill in for Pérez include Garrett, lefty Dax Fulton and righties Bradley Blalock and Ryan Gusto. All but Fulton have started at the big league level. Garrett gave up two runs over four frames on Thursday, while Blalock started on Friday. Gusto has a 4.01 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP in nine games (seven starts) and Fulton has a 6.17 ERA and a 1.63 WHIP in 10 games (eight starts) for the Jumbo Shrimp this season.

"We feel like we do have a number of pitchers that have been throwing the ball well in a variety type of roles, and how we decide to fill that spot, or what we decide to do, potentially moving forward, we will," McCullough said. "Your depth is going to be tested throughout every season. As everyone knows, you can never have enough pitching. I give a lot of credit to our PD group, especially on the pitching side, the amount of strides that so many individuals have taken that we feel like we'll be in a position to be able to withstand this as best we can."