Eury Pérez outduels Misiorowski as Marlins salvage series finale vs. Brewers

[Kevin Barral]

MIAMI, FL — Between his last three starts, Marlins starter Eury Pérez had a 6.23 ERA, 6.05 FIP and walked 10 opposing hitters. On Sunday afternoon, Pérez came out with the high socks look in the Florida Marlins teal jersey and delivered a much-needed quality start in what wound up being a 5-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers.

Pérez, who just turned 23 years old earlier this week, tossed six innings, allowing one run (unearned) on three hits, one walk and struck out seven.

Pérez relied on his four-seam fastball even more than usual, throwing it 67% of the time. He generated nine whiffs, landed it nine times for a first-pitch strike and six of his seven strikeouts came on that pitch.

"He had a really good fastball today," Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said following the game. " It was his ability to get ahead of people and throw his secondaries appropriately. We saw the the firmness and velocity on some of the secondary pitches, which I think leads a lot to the conviction behind those. It was nice to see upper 80s, 90 on some of the sliders. I just really felt like he was in a really good rhythm."

This may not be a recipe for long-term success, but it certainly worked in this situation. Pérez improved his career ERA at loanDepot park to 2.45 (compared to 5.09 on the road).

The Marlins manager wasn't able to watch the majority of Pérez's start in person because in the top of the second inning, he was ejected for the first time in 2026. Marlins first baseman Connor Norby received a pickoff attempt while standing several feet away from the bag, something that the team has done for the majority of the season, but never been penalized for. First base umpire Cory Blaser called a balk and McCullough came out of the dugout for a lengthy discussion before Blaser kicked him out.

"It's a gray area where nowhere it says how far an individual has to be off the base," McCullough said. "We have encouraged our first baseman to get further off the base to get those throws to the inside there. It's a closer and shorter throw and with replay now, a lot of the outs occur tagging guys on the body before the hand gets there. He's been in that spot the entire season. It hasn't been called. I think it's such a gray area where it's subjective to who the individual [umpire] is."

The Marlins have been generous with providing run support when Pérez is on the mound. Even with the equally talented Jacob Misiorowski pitching for the Brewers, that was not an issue on Sunday.

A wild pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the first inning allowed Jakob Marsee to score. Agustin Ramirez grounded into a double play, but Xavier Edwards was able to score on that. Liam Hicks collected another RBI, driving in Otto Lopez, taking an early 3-0 lead.

With Misiorowski out of the game, Javier Sanoja drove in two more in the bottom of the sixth, singling through a drawn-in infield. That put the Marlins up 5-1.

The Brewers made a late push in the top of the eighth inning with lefty Andrew Nardi on the mound. With the bases loaded, catcher Gary Sanchez singled to drive in two runs, making it a 5-3 game. The Marlins turned to Calvin Faucher, who on one pitch, got William Contreras to fly out to end the inning.

Kyle Stowers started in left field and hit cleanup in his season debut. The Marlins 2025 All-Star was welcomed back with a 101.5 mph fastball that struck the fingers of his right hand, but he remained in the game.

"Took it off the hand, so certainly worried in the moment, but all the bones in the hand seemed okay and then I think after the inning, he was fine," McCullough said. "For him to go out there and collect a couple hits was huge. I'm sure, great for him to come right in and contribute and get off to a nice start. The swings look very aggressive, looked balanced, so great to have Kyle back."

In the bottom of the fifth, Stowers hit a double (101.4 mph exit velocity) and in the seventh, he hit a single to the pull side. It should be noted, he was not running the bases at full speed, which is understandable coming off a hamstring injury.

Pete Fairbanks notched his third save of the season (his first since March 28), striking out the first two batters and then Blake Perkins grounded out to second base to end the game.

The Marlins improve to 10-12, remaining second in the National League East. They will welcome the St. Louis Cardinals for a three-game home series beginning on Monday.

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