MIAMI – When Eury Pérez debuted on May 12, 2023, he surpassed the late José Fernández to become the youngest Marlin to pitch in the Major Leagues.
The tie that binds that pair of top prospects with astronomical talent and big personalities grew stronger in Friday night’s 3-0 win over the Braves at loanDepot park, when Pérez tossed a one-hitter on the 10-year anniversary of Fernández’s passing.
Pérez, who had never pitched into the eighth inning of his previous 67 career starts, threw a career-high 105 pitches (73 strikes) and struck out eight batters.
The 23-year-old became the seventh Marlin to toss a one-hit shutout, and the first since right-hander Anibal Sánchez (Sept. 10, 2011, at Pittsburgh). He is the first to allow one hit or fewer in a complete game since Edinson Volquez, who threw a no-hitter while honoring his late friends Yordano Ventura and Fernández on June 3, 2017.
"First, I want to give thanks to God, and everyone on the staff,” Pérez said in Spanish. “They trusted in me in that moment, and they let me go out there in the ninth. It was very fun to go out there, to compete and enjoy the game. The pitching coach told me before the game to enjoy it, that today is the last game, to finish off the season like it was against the Cubs [on Tuesday]. He told me that it was very fun to watch me there, that I was smiling the whole time.”
Batterymate Joe Mack broke the scoreless deadlock with a solo shot to the upper deck in right-center field in the seventh, and Miami added two insurance runs in the eighth on Heriberto Hernández’s RBI single and Griffin Conine’s solo homer.
With Pérez at 90 pitches entering the ninth, manager Clayton McCullough elected to stick with his young flamethrower rather than turn to his bullpen. On July 5, McCullough controversially pulled Pérez after 92 pitches and seven perfect frames against the A’s in West Sacramento.
Adding a wrinkle to the decision was Pérez striking out the side on 14 pitches in his debut in relief on Tuesday at Wrigley Field.
“When I finished off the eighth inning, with the amount of pitches I had, that is when I knew I had a chance to go out there,” Pérez said. “I had all the trust. When I was walking into the dugout, I gave him signals to stay there, to not come and tell me that I finished, for them to let me go out there.”
McCullough noted Pérez’s relatively stress-free workload. He didn’t throw more than 15 pitches in a single inning, and he had single-digit pitches in three separate frames.
Only three batters reached base: Ronald Acuña Jr. (first-inning fielding error), Matt Olson (fourth-inning walk) and Sean Murphy (sixth-inning leadoff single).
“Even before the couple of runs [we scored in the eighth], no-brainer he was going to go back out there,” McCullough said. “I don't know what the number would have been. If he'd gone to 115 tonight, I think I would have been OK with that. … Not every outing and pitch count is created equal. To do that and be so efficient, just felt like he had still some rope left to try to finish it off.”
In the ninth, Pérez got Murphy to line out to shortstop Otto Lopez on the ninth pitch of the at-bat. Drake Baldwin grounded out on a 3-1 putout before longtime Marlins nemesis Acuña sent a liner to the left-center gap, where Jakob Marsee tracked down the ball.
"I think you need a couple big swings off him, and we didn't have those tonight because of how good of stuff he had,” Baldwin said. “It's tough to string together a bunch of hits. When he has the stuff like that tonight, and he's throwing strikes, it's tough."
Pérez closed out his first full season back from Tommy John surgery on a high note after compiling a 10.13 ERA over his last five starts, which erased the dominant 13-start stretch (1.67 ERA) that put him in consideration among the game’s elite.
Overall, Pérez set career highs for outings (30), starts (29) and innings (159). The latter mark blew past his previous high (95 1/3). With the shutout, his season ERA dropped from 4.14 to 3.91.
"It means a lot,” Pérez said. “I put my mind to it -- not to throw nine innings -- but that I had to finish off really well. That last game has to be with a lot of desire for things to go well. Thank God that it was able to be like that. But I am very happy for everything that has happened, of every moment. Sad ones or ones where I threw seven innings without giving up a hit. This season has been about a lot of learning, and I will try to take all of that to the next season."
Perla Paredes contributed to this story.