CINCINNATI -- One of Major League Baseball’s hottest teams has a secret recipe to success that includes an unlikely ingredient.
Since last month’s visit to San Francisco, the Marlins have been playing Mario Kart World on Nintendo Switch 2 inside the clubhouse -- both on the road and at home -- to get the competitive juices flowing.
Tuesday was no different as Eury Pérez struck out a season-high eight batters and the Marlins put up a seven spot in the third inning of a 12-2 victory over the Reds at Great American Ball Park.
“I don't know what it is, but we're having a good time enjoying each other,” said Xavier Edwards, who plays as Yoshi and hopes to soon overtake clubhouse Mario Kart champion Cal Quantrill. “Having a lot of fun.”
With the win, the Marlins improved to 22-21 away from loanDepot park. Only two other National League clubs -- the Dodgers and the Cubs -- have an above-.500 road record, and they are division leaders. During the club’s franchise-record 11-game road win streak, Miami has outscored opponents (82-47), with seven straight contests of five-plus runs scored.
By taking the first two of four against the Reds, one of seven clubs ahead of them in the NL Wild Card standings, the Marlins are just six games below .500 for the first time since May 3.
The lone blemish against Pérez in his five innings of work was Matt McLain’s solo homer on a first-pitch slider with one out in the first. After TJ Friedl’s two-out double in the third -- Cincinnati’s only other hit vs. Miami’s flamethrower -- Pérez fanned the next four batters.
After compiling a 6.19 ERA through his first four starts back from Tommy John surgery, Pérez has allowed just one run on three hits over 11 innings (0.82 ERA) across his next two outings. He has 15 strikeouts to one walk in that span.
“There's a lot [to be proud of],” Pérez said via interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. “Just being able to finish each hitter, no walks, eight strikeouts. I'm very proud for all these accomplishments today.”
The Marlins’ lineup, meanwhile, held hitless through two innings against righty Nick Martinez, notched seven runs in the third -- the club’s season high for a single frame. Following Liam Hicks’ leadoff walk, the next six batters collected hits.
Heriberto Hernandez reached on an infield single, Dane Myers lined an RBI single up the middle and Edwards followed with a two-run double off the right-center wall, just missing his first homer of the season.
Jesús Sánchez drove in a run with a single, Otto Lopez reached on a single and Agustín Ramírez tallied an RBI double before All-Star Kyle Stowers and Connor Norby produced back-to-back sacrifice flies.
The Marlins extended their lead to 10-1 in the sixth on Hernandez’s bases-loaded walk against righty Scott Barlow, Myers’ run-scoring double play and Edwards’ RBI single. Myers tacked on an eighth-inning sac fly against catcher Jose Trevino, and Stowers added an RBI single off him in the ninth.
“I think it's just who we are as a team,” said Edwards, who finished with a game-high three RBIs and already has four multihit performances this month. “... I feel like we just pass the baton to the next guy, get on base, have a lot of traffic on the bases. We walk a lot, hitting a lot of balls in the gaps and stuff with doubles. I feel like on all facets we've been really clicking offensively. And it's fun to just kind of keep the inning rolling for the guy behind you.”
Since June 13, Miami is 17-7 (.708), which is tied with Houston for the best record in MLB during that stretch.
It’s not just the pesky offense, which scored a season-high-tying 12 runs and also walked seven times, getting it done. Starting pitchers have a 4.04 ERA and have gone at least six innings nine times since June 13 after just 10 instances before then. Entering Tuesday, Miami’s 2.79 bullpen ERA ranked third in the Majors during this span.
“I think that's a great recipe,” said manager Clayton McCullough, whose son Kyle got in on the Mario Kart action pregame. “... We believe that we have a good team, and we're doing a lot of things well together right now. They're playing off each other very well and doing a lot of the little things well, and just really proud of how they're continuing to buy-in and take high quality at-bats.”