MIAMI -- It’s not often that Marlins right-hander Eury Pérez looks out of sorts, but when he showed signs of cracking following a shaky first inning, the pitching staff and some teammates gathered down the dugout tunnel to give him words of advice.
Be aggressive and on the attack. Show conviction.
Pérez bounced back, setting career highs for strikeouts (11), pitches thrown (100) and maximum velocity (101.5 mph) in Saturday’s 5-0 loss to the Mets at loanDepot park. Over 5 1/3 innings, Pérez allowed three runs on three hits and three walks to cap his 2025 season.
“He's in a terrific place,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “Again, just to have him be able to take the ball every fifth or sixth day since he's come back from the rehab process, and to at least get right around 100 innings up here at the Major League level this year, sets him up well for next season. Days like today are great for him, where you're going to have those a lot as a starting pitcher early on. That first inning can always be the most difficult one. Showed himself that [he can] get through that. And we certainly have high aspirations for Eury because of how talented he is, and believe that the number of starts he got this year for us is going to really pay dividends as we get into ‘26.”
The 22-year-old opened his outing with five straight balls, leading to a mound visit from catcher Liam Hicks and Otto Lopez. Though Pérez would retire Juan Soto immediately after, Pete Alonso gave the Mets a 1-0 lead on an RBI double to snap Pérez’s stretch of nine consecutive scoreless innings.
But Pérez limited the damage to one run in a 23-pitch frame. With one out and a pair of runners in scoring position, Pérez induced a shallow flyout and struck out Jeff McNeil looking on a 100 mph four-seamer -- his fourth-fastest pitch of the season -- painted on the bottom of the zone.
New York struck again on Alonso’s two-out solo homer in the third, which marked the first long ball allowed at home by Pérez this season.
McCullough would give Pérez a longer leash in his final start. At 87 pitches to start the sixth, Pérez walked Alonso to open the frame and committed a balk before striking out Brandon Nimmo. Righty Lake Bachar took over, permitting an RBI double to McNeil to complete Pérez’s line.
"[Eury] was pretty nasty today, the life on the fastball, the way he was mixing,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “But for Pete to set the tone in the first inning right there, and then that homer, but also how Jeff got a huge hit. But Pete setting the tone early on, we needed that."
Like his mentor, Sandy Alcantara, Pérez returned from Tommy John surgery this season ahead of schedule. Unlike Alcantara, he looked like the 2023 version that took the baseball world by storm.
Through his first 10 starts, Pérez posted a 2.70 ERA. Over his next seven starts, his ERA was 7.84, which included an Aug. 29 outing in Queens. In one of the worst starts of his young career, Pérez recorded just two outs before the Mets chased him. He closed out his 2025 with a 1.88 ERA over his final three starts.
Pérez is a different pitcher than he was at the start of the year. He added a sweeper to his arsenal, and he continues to work on his changeup. The better his pitch location, the more he can attain his high ceiling.
“I felt healthy,” Pérez said via interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. “My arm feels great. Velocity was great again, just facing a team like this one, as strong as this one, felt really good -- really good to feel healthy in the way I felt ending the season this way. The strikeouts [I] feel proud for what I did out there. Love the strikeouts. It was amazing and feeling great, finishing this season strong and looking forward to continuing that growth next season.”
Two years ago, when the Marlins clinched a National League Wild Card berth, both Alcantara and Pérez were sidelined by injuries. This weekend, they took the mound trying to spoil the Mets’ chances at reaching the postseason.
If the Marlins hold on to their starting pitching over the offseason, they would enter Spring Training with a dangerous rotation fronted by Alcantara, Pérez and Edward Cabrera, who is slated to make his second start back from a right elbow scare in Sunday’s finale.
“Looking to start the season healthy with the team,” Pérez said of his 2026 goal. “Everybody healthy. Have an excellent season, and a championship all together, healthy.”