Marlins unable to complete sweep despite Eury Pérez's historic month

[Louis Addeo-Weiss]

If the Marlins held on to their 2-1 lead against the Brewers on Sunday, they'd head to St. Louis two games under .500 at 51-53, clinging to a thread at the prospect of adding instead of subtracting at the upcoming July 31 trade deadline.

However, a Blake Perkins walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth nudged them closer to being sellers. The 3-2 loss narrowly prevented the Fish from sweeping the Brew Crew for the first time since 2008.

"They found a way to push across a couple of runs...but still a lot of great takeaways from this series," noted manager Clayton McCullough. 

Entering the day riding a four-game winning streak, the Marlins got off to a quick start, with Xavier Edwards drilling a first-pitch, leadoff double against Brandon Woodruff. He was driven in by Kyle Stowers three batters later.

On the same mound that new Baseball Hall of Fame inductee CC Sabathia helped pitch the Brewers into the playoffs in 2008, Miami got another effective outing from their ascendant ace, Eury Pérez. Striking out six over five innings of one-run ball to lower his season ERA to just a hair over three, Pérez concluded the month of July with a 1.29 ERA over five starts, the lowest such mark of any pitcher to throw at least 25 innings in a single July in franchise history. 

Of the 12 whiffs he generated, six came on Pérez's fastball, a pitch that topped out at 99.7 mph on the day.

"He has been on a nice run over this past month. The stuff is elite," noted McCullough. 

The lone bit of damage against Pérez on Sunday came off the bat of another young phenom, Jackson Chourio. His first of two doubles on the day drove in Milwaukee's first run in the fourth to extend his hitting streak to 20 games.

As they did so often in this series, though, Miami would immediately strike back, this time courtesy of Heriberto Hernandez, who hit his second home run in as many weeks against the aforementioned Woodruff to give Miami a lead they would hold heading into the bottom of the eighth. Hernandez, despite limited playing time, has made the most of it when out there, sporting a .323/.377/.531/.908 slash line in 106 PA this season. 

Following scoreless sixth and seventh innings from Valente Bellozo and Anthony Bender, McCullough turned to Ronny Henriquez in the eighth to hold Miami's slim lead. 

After allowing a leadoff double to Chourio, Henriquez would be helped out by his defense. Shortstop Otto Lopez took advantage of some aggressive baserunning on the part of Chourio, who attempted to advance to third on a Perkins ground ball.

Former Marlin and 2018 NL MVP Christian Yelich would proceed to strike out before Andrew Vaughn, a midseason acquisition from the White Sox, doubled home Perkins to tie the game at two. 

 

Looking Ahead

The Marlins' final series before the trade deadline will commence on Monday when they open up a three-game set against the St. Louis Cardinals. Edward Cabrera (4-4, 3.48 ERA), a hot topic in deadline discussions, will start the opener. Andre Pallante (5-7, 4.91 ERA) will oppose him for St. Louis.

First pitch from Busch Stadium is slated for 7:45 EST. 

 

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[THOMAS JOSEPH]

Complaining about the Marlins' aggressive base play is misplaced. It's an integral part of the team identity that shouldn't be tampered with because of an unsuccessful inning or two.