Making his first Major League start in nearly 21 months against the Pirates on Monday, Eury Pérez appeared to be shaking off the rust one would expect a pitcher coming off Tommy John surgery to have. The results—four runs in three innings of work—were largely a product of tough luck.
On a Father’s Day Sunday, his second outing, some of the accompanying rust remained, albeit with more of that aforementioned luck. Working around three walks and failing to strike out a hitter for the second time in his brief career, Pérez allowed just one run over four innings in the Marlins’ 3-1 victory over the Nationals.
“It’s another game, another learning experience, trying to get better…I was able to compete inning after inning, despite some traffic,” said Pérez through an interpreter.
Threatening to score with runners on second and third in the fourth, Pérez nearly ran into a case of deja vu from his previous start in Pittsburgh when a weakly hit ground ball from Alex Call came in his direction. Fortunately, the 22-year-old fielded his position to escape the jam and put a lid on his second outing of the year.
In relief of Pérez, the Marlins bullpen fired off five scoreless innings to cap off a weekend where they covered 19 of the team’s 27 innings pitched, including multiple-inning efforts Sunday from Lake Bachar and Tyler Phillips.
One may argue, though, that the biggest surprise of the day was the work of the recently recalled Freddy Tarnok, who worked a scoreless ninth inning in his Marlins debut for his first career save. In 41 ⅓ innings in AAA spread over 12 appearances (10 starts), Tarnok struggled to the tune of a 4.79 ERA, averaging nearly four walks every nine innings pitched. The 26-year-old right-hander had previously seen big league time with Atlanta and Oakland in 2022 and 2023.
Bats Do Just Enough
Entering the series averaging four runs a game, Miami averaged six in their sweep of Washington over the weekend.
Returning the show of good faith the organization has shown him since receiving regular playing time, Sunday saw Dane Myers put together a three-hit day, punctuated by a second-inning home run off MacKenzie Gore. In 44 plate appearances in June, Myers has hit .366 with a .946 OPS. In the weekend set, Myers went 8-for-13, raising his season average to .333 in the process.
Gore, the NL leader in strikeouts entering play, put forth another solid effort, allowing just two runs in six innings of work, striking out five. Gore’s 2.89 ERA is 18th among pitchers to throw at least 75 innings so far this season.
Despite a hitless day Sunday, Eric Wagaman collected Miami’s two additional RBIs on the day, upping his total to eight in the month of June.
The win sealed Miami’s first sweep since taking the final three games of the 2024 season against the Blue Jays from September 27-29, snapping a stretch of 22 consecutive sweepless series. Miami, now 28-41, handed the Nationals their eighth consecutive loss, falling to 30-41, leaving the Marlins just one game out of a tie for fourth place in the NL East.
“I thought we played more complete games here, and that’s what it takes to win,” noted Clayton McCullough.
Looking Ahead
The Marlins will return home where they’ll start a four-game series against the Phillies on Monday. Sandy Alcantara (3-7, 7.14 ERA) will look to keep his season going in the right direction, pitching to a 1.50 ERA over his last two starts. Mick Abel (1-0, 2.35 ERA), the Phillies third-ranked pitching prospect, will make his fourth career Major League start opposite Alcantara.
First pitch from loanDepot park is slated for 6:40 EST.
