Meyer earned his ninth consecutive winning decision, matching Liván Hernández (1997) and Pat Rapp (1995) for the longest such streak in a single season in franchise history. Among the 129 Major League pitchers with at least 10 starts this season, Meyer remains the only one without a loss.
“It's always nice to get everything going, get the heater over, landing my offspeed,” Meyer said. “The defense [also] helped me out all day.”
The right-hander has been one of the National League's most consistent starters this season. His 2.60 ERA ranks sixth in the league through 17 starts.
"He's gotten better in all facets of pitching," manager Clayton McCullough said. "What him and Sandy have been able to do leading our rotation this entire half – we lean on them a lot – and Max has certainly answered the bell each time out."
Meyer cruised through six innings, throwing just 66 pitches while striking out five. Four of his strikeouts came on his sweeper and one on his slider, and he didn't allow a runner to reach second base until the seventh inning.
"Max was phenomenal," McCullough said. "He was ahead of a lot of people. They were very aggressive going at him early in the count with how much miss and punch he can get, but it's a team over there that doesn't strike out a whole lot."
The sweeper has become Meyer's go-to pitch after being his least-used offering in 2025. Entering Friday, he had nearly tripled its usage from 11.5 percent to 29 percent, while opponents' batting average against the pitch had dropped from .368 to .222.
“It's been a good pitch to have,” Meyer said. “I rely on it, obviously a lot, and I'm glad that it's been consistent throughout the whole season.”
McCullough believes it has made a huge difference.
“He's throwing breaking balls at 90 miles an hour,” McCullough said. “He's got multiple ones that have different shapes. It's tough for the hitter to know which one might have a little bit more width to it, others go straight down. He's added a two-seam fastball, so now he can attack more quadrants of the strike zone. Certainly the sweeper has been a really big pitch for him."
The Cardinals mounted their biggest threat in the seventh after Meyer hit Iván Herrera and walked Alec Burleson before Lars Nootbaar loaded the bases. Meyer escaped the one-out jam by getting Masyn Winn to ground out and Nathan Church to line out to left.
"I mean, got to throw up another zero for the team," Meyer said. "It’s a shutdown inning [and] it was a tough one. Moss came out, gave me a little breather there, let me settle in [before] making some big pitches… Overall, it's a great win. Obviously, relievers came in, shut the door again, too."
Locked in a scoreless pitchers' duel into the eighth, recently recalled Graham Pauley delivered the breakthrough with a go-ahead RBI double down the right-field line, scoring Esteury Ruiz after he singled and stole second.
"He's electric," Pauley said. "We watched it all year. He's one of, if not the best pitcher in the game right now. It's really, really cool to see how he carries himself every day and just goes about his business."
Following a 27-minute rain delay in the eighth inning, the Marlins added to their lead when Xavier Edwards drew a walk to load the bases. Kyle Stowers hit a ground ball to first, and Pauley was initially ruled out at the plate before replay overturned the call. Jakob Marsee capped the scoring with a two-out, two-run single in the ninth
The victory moved Miami to four games above .500, matching its season high and marking the club's best record this late in a season since the end of 2023. The Marlins have also won seven of their last eight games.