ST. PETERSBURG – The Marlins expected to lean heavily on Sandy Alcantara and Eury Pérez as a formidable 1-2 punch atop their rotation.
While Alcantara has been his reliable self outside of two blowups, Pérez is struggling to find his footing.
The pattern continued, as Pérez allowed five runs over five innings in Sunday afternoon’s 6-3 loss to the Rays at Tropicana Field. With the Citrus Series defeat, Miami finished its road trip 2-4 in Minnesota and St. Pete.
Pérez’s ERA ballooned to 5.33 (fourth highest in the Majors) – a mortal figure considering the type of stuff that led to his “Baby Goat” moniker. He has permitted at least four earned runs in four of his 10 starts, and he has pitched more than five frames just four times. He also walked at least three batters for the fourth time.
Miami, which fell to five games below .500 (21-26), anticipated more from Pérez and its starting staff (4.85 ERA, fifth highest in MLB) this season in order to replicate 2025’s surprise National League Wild Card chase.
The fourth inning was a perfect example of how quickly things can unravel for Pérez, who at times loses his command and can’t get back in sync quick enough. He issued a leadoff walk, allowed a one-out double and then walked another to load the bases. Following a fielder’s choice, Taylor Walls turned a 2-1 Miami lead into a 4-2 deficit with a three-run triple.
“I think we just saw the inconsistency with the strike throwing,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “He worked hard for 15 outs today, and the pitch count really got driven up. … Just the inability to consistently just fill up the zone. The big inning right now … seems to get going a little bit, and a crooked number gets put up.”
Pérez couldn’t pinpoint any one reason for the season-long command issues. Sometimes the opposing lineup takes good at-bats and fouls off a ton of pitches (26 on Sunday). Other times, it’s the common issue taller pitchers (Pérez is 6-foot-8) face when their mechanics get out of whack.
There was another trend on Sunday worth monitoring: Pérez confirmed that he started throwing a sinker as of a week ago. The series finale marked his second start turning to it.
“The team gave me [a grip] that I was not feeling very comfortable with,” Pérez said via interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. “Now we found one that I feel comfortable with, and that's the one that we've been working with.”
On Tuesday in Minnesota, Pérez threw the two-seamer 14 times – his second-most-used pitch of the start – and averaged 97.3 mph on the offering. The hope is it could complement the other five pitches in his arsenal and lead to better results.
After all, his mentor, Alcantara, is a ground-ball machine and king of efficiency thanks to the pitch.
“I think it's a pitch that's going to help me out,” Pérez said. “It was a good pitch with [Nick] Fortes there [for the infield hit in the second].
“I thought I was going to get out of the [fourth] inning, but you’ve got situations of the game. I have to continue working on the command, mostly with outside pitches, and righties.”