Maybe trying to do too much was the issue for the Miami Marlins as they fell to the New York Mets on Wednesday, 8-3. With struggles from Eury Pérez and a lackluster offensive performance, the Marlins missed an opportunity to beat up on a Mets team that’s already out of the playoff race and looking toward the future.
“We didn’t play really well this series,” said Miami Marlins manager Skip Schumaker following the game. “Just bad timing for this series, and it wasn’t lack of effort. They played hard. Maybe too hard at times and try to force some plays. Just another tough, tough game.”
The biggest issue for the rookie Pérez was not being able to find the strike zone. Walking three and only striking out two, he gave up three runs, with only two of them being earned.
Pérez relied heavily on his fastball, which isn’t typically his best pitch. Even though he averaged 96.9 mph with it, his command was not consistent and the Mets took advantage. They swung at it 25 times, with only three of those swings being whiffs.
Pérez gave up an early home run to designated hitter Mark Vientos in the top of the second inning. Then in the third, Pérez gave up a single to Ronny Mauricio which resulted in another run due to back-to-back errors by the Marlins defense. Finally, Pete Alonso hit a sac fly to drive in the third run of the game.
Following the Mauricio single, Jake Burger was taken out of the game with an apparent injury. It was later announced that he was removed due to right quad tightness.
Burger said he felt discomfort on “the initial launch for the ball before it got by me,” trying to reach an errant throw from Jesús Sánchez. He hopes to available for the Marlins’ next game on Friday.
Getting back to Pérez, this was his shortest outing since his nightmare start against the Atlanta Braves. It was also the first time in his career that he has recorded more walks than strikeouts.
Postgame, when Pérez spoke to the media, he mentioned that with the end of the season approaching, he is just starting to feel it. He has totaled 128 innings between the majors and minors compared to only 77 innings during the 2022 season.
After Pérez was removed from the game, the Mets were able to score five more runs off of Johnny Cueto and the Marlins bullpen. That included homers by Vientos, Brett Baty and Brandon Nimmo.
Mets starting pitcher Kodai Senga once again produced a quality outing where he went six innings, struck out three, walked two and gave up two runs off of seven hits.
The second run that Senga allowed was a Josh Bell leadoff home run in the bottom of the sixth inning. The ball left the bat at 108.2 mph and went 417 feet. That was Bell’s 21st home run of the season and his 10th as a Marlin. Bell is also the second Marlins player to homer off of Senga—the other was Jazz Chisholm Jr. on April 8.
Friday was expected to be Cueto’s spot in the rotation, but Schumaker told the media that he will continue to come out of the bullpen for the near future. Instead, the Marlins will be going with an opener (he didn’t give a specific name) in their first game against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images
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