MIAMI -- The Marlins have managed to put together the best rotation ERA and record in the Majors despite being down three starting pitchers this month.
Imagine what they could be capable of with the return of right-hander Eury Pérez from the 15-day injured list.
Pérez allowed one run over 4 2/3 innings and the lineup did just enough against Jacob deGrom in the Marlins’ 4-2 win over the Rangers on Wednesday afternoon at loanDepot park.
With the victory, Miami (42-39) improved to an MLB-best 16-5 record in June and moved three games above .500 for the first time since the start of play on April 10 (8-5) at the season’s halfway point. The only better starts to a season in Marlins history were during the 1997 (48-33) and 2023 (47-34) seasons -- both which ended in postseason berths.
“I was just working really, really hard out there on my recovery as much as I could, because I knew that the team needed me,” Pérez said via interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. “As we know, the load the bullpen had was massive. So I will say, all the hard work I was putting in there, and the commitment following through the whole process, because I know the team needed me out here.”
Pérez permitted three hits, including Wyatt Langford’s solo homer to break a scoreless deadlock in the fourth inning of his 68-pitch outing. He faced the minimum through three with help from catcher Brian Navarreto, who picked off Ezequiel Duran to end the second and threw out Nicky Lopez trying to steal to close out the third in his season debut.
“Being a defensive catcher, do the little things, hitting, help the team win,” said Navarreto, who executed a sacrifice bunt and walked. “And of course, just catching. Just be able to help Eury and all the bullpen, and anything I can. Just trying to be me.”
Pérez, who strained his right gracilis in his inner thigh while warming up between innings of his May 27 start in Toronto, beat the original recovery timeline of eight weeks. A few days after the injury, he was already back in a long toss program. Pérez made just one rehab start, tossing 3 2/3 innings on 51 pitches for Triple-A Jacksonville on Thursday.
At the time of the injury, Pérez appeared to be turning a corner during his first full season removed from April 2024 elbow surgery. Though his season ERA (4.60) was high, he had limited the Mets to one run across 6 1/3 innings on May 22, then held the Blue Jays scoreless through four frames in the abbreviated outing. Including Wednesday’s finale, Pérez has a 1.20 ERA over his last three starts.
“You've got to continue to smile on the mound, have fun, attack the zone,” Pérez said. “That's what I've been doing, just reminding myself that you have to have fun, and just not adding that extra pressure through the game. If you get runners, you've got to try to get out of there. It was a lot of contact today, but sometimes, you’ve got to just let them get outs through soft contact.”
Pérez's return stabilizes a rotation that has heavily relied on Sandy Alcantara and Max Meyer during his absence, which also overlapped with righty Janson Junk (shin) and Robby Snelling (elbow surgery) being sidelined. Miami has used a combination of bullpen games, which would’ve lined up for Wednesday, and righty Ryan Gusto in a bulk and/or starting capacity to cover those two rotation spots.
“What we're seeing now, we hope, is momentum he continues to take,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “We believe he's got frontline-starter capabilities, and someone that can run through lineups three-plus times with the type of arsenal that he has. Putting another frontline capable starter in there certainly is going to help. He's quality, he can go out there and shut down any lineup with the weapons he has. He does help fortify the rotation.”
The Marlins scratched across two runs in deGrom’s six innings in support of Pérez, giving them wins against him, Jacob Misiorowski, Shohei Ohtani, Paul Skenes and Shane McClanahan this season.
Griffin Conine knocked a game-tying two-out double in the fourth for his first hit since returning from the IL on Sunday. Miami took a 2-1 lead in the fifth, when Xavier Edwards lined the seventh pitch of the at-bat for an RBI single.
“We're trying to treat everybody the same,” said Otto Lopez, who added a two-run homer in the eighth. “This is the big leagues. Everybody’s got some different stuff, and some good stuff. And those big names, to face those guys, we go there to just fight, and we never doubt [ourselves depending on] who's there. We're trying to beat them.”