Marlins Protect Pérez, Survive Bullpen Scare to Sweep A’s

· Yahoo Sports

After seven perfect innings on the mound, the common conundrum arrived at the Miami Marlins dugout.

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Should Eury Perez stay or should he go? 

If Perez goes, there will be trouble; if he stays, it will be double. 

Oddly enough, Perez was replaced by the bullpen and immediately ran into trouble. Despite the bullpen’s best attempt to snatch defeat from the jaws of defeat, the Marlins hung on to win 9-8 against the Athletics on Sunday in Sacramento. 

Were it not for their insurance run in the ninth inning, it could have been a much more drastic result for the Marlins, who built an 8-0 through the first seven innings of the game. 

Marlins manager Clayton McCullough told reporters after the game that Perez had a pitch count set for the game and “made it more of a calculated decision.” 

“Going into this game, 90 plus a batter was the pitch count that I felt comfortable with,” McCullough said. 

Perez was in his third start after spending a short stint on the injured list due to a groin injury. With pitchers constantly being at risk of injury when overused on the mound, the health and stability of Perez take precedence over any personal attempt at immortality. 

Especially considering the fact that the Marlins already experienced the alternative to Perez not pitching every fifth day for them. 

“Coming off the time on the IL and us looking to play beyond the regular season, Eury is going to be an important part of that,” McCullough said. “He had it really going today. I totally get it, and there was a part of my heartstrings pulling at his opportunity to keep on going, but I got to think about Eury, one, and our organization, our team, and what’s our best moving forward at giving us a chance to continue to win games.”

Perez threw 92 pitches with eight strikeouts and took a perfect game into the eighth inning. Naturally, the Sacramento crowd booed and chanted “shame” regarding the Marlins’ decision for Perez not to come out for the eighth inning. They recognized the potential of a historic achievement, one that would have been cheapened had additional pitchers contributed to it. 

Such cries from the crowd of 8,686 fans did little to make McCullough regret his decision. 

“I’ve heard crowds louder than that and boos,” McCullough said. “That part, it doesn’t matter to me.”

The Marlins opened the game with Heriberto Hernandez hitting a solo home run towards centerfield to put Miami up 1-0 in the first inning. 

Otto Lopez hit a ground-rule double in the second inning to drive in a run, and a sacrifice fly by Liam Hicks, who went 2-for-5, put Miami up 3-0. 

The Marlins added three more runs to their lead in the third inning. Leo Jimenez hit his first home run of the season, scoring two, and Lopez drove in another run on a sacrifice fly. 

Lopez hit his ninth home run of the season in the sixth inning to extend Miami’s lead to 7-0. The All-Star shortstop now has 39 multi-hit games before the break.

Hernandez homered again in the sixth inning for his 10th of the season. 

“It feels great,” Hernandez told the Marlins Radio Network after the game through an interpreter. “The ball actually flies. It seems amazing the way it flies here.”

A grand slam by Jonah Heim in the eighth inning was the highlight of the Athletics' rally. Heim later brought the A’s to the brink of tying the game with a two-run single in the ninth. 

With the sweep, the Marlins (49-42) are 23-8 since June 1 and are now 4.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves for first place in the National League East. The Fightin’ Fish are also tied with the St. Louis Cardinals for the third NL wild card spot. 

“I feel like the chemistry of this team is amazing,” Marlins catcher Brian Navarreto told the Peacock broadcast crew after the game. “We’re always ready, and that’s the beautiful thing about this team.”

The Marlins return to Miami on Tuesday for a three-game series against the American League West leading Seattle Mariners. Newly selected All-Star pitcher Max Meyer (9-1, 2.53 ERA) will take the mound to start the six-game homestand. 

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