SAN FRANCISCO – After battling through a wide-ranging set of emotions earlier in the season, Miami starting pitcher Eury Pérez is showing signs of being the dominant pitcher the Marlins projected him to be.
Facing the Giants at their waterfront ballpark on Saturday, the 23-year-old right-hander wasn’t as crisp as he has been, but it was still another step in the right direction.
Six days after arguably his best start of the season, Pérez ran into all sorts of issues and took it on the chin, absorbing the "L" in the Marlins’ 6-2 loss to the Giants.
“It was a good overall outing,” Pérez said through an interpreter. “Just following the plan that I was given by my pitching coach. Maybe not the best outing, but we were out there competing through the whole game.”
Pérez’s final numbers definitely fit into the mediocre category: 5 1/3 innings, seven hits, four earned runs, two walks, six strikeouts.
It was the way that Pérez carried himself on the mound that stood out.
Despite pitching with runners on base in every inning except one, Pérez never appeared to be rattled or in a panic mode. No matter the situation, he kept throwing strikes.
“He had a good heater,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “He was able to get some guys late in counts with some good fastballs. Kept us right there.
“The really encouraging part is this is back-to-back [games] where he filled up the zone at a rate that he needs to do to be successful.”
In his previous start on April 19 against the Brewers, Pérez allowed three hits and one unearned run over six innings.
The consecutive strong starts came after a shaky beginning to the season. Pérez was understandably overcome with emotions when the 2026 season began after sitting out all of 2024 following Tommy John surgery and being limited to 95 1/3 innings in 2025.
“I was trying to control that, but it was kind of winning against me,” Pérez said of his mental battle. “But I’m working on that. I’m making better pitches, fixing the location, staying ahead of the count. That’s something that has been working very well for me.”
Marlins catcher Agustín Ramírez praised Pérez for his fastball, which was routinely clocked in the high 90s. Ramírez also said that the pitcher has done a great job of moving on from his early-season struggles.
“Better,” Ramírez said. “Much better.”