Eury Pérez tosses first career complete game, shuts out Braves in final start of 2026

MIAMI, FL - The 2026 season saw Eury Pérez enter uncharted territory and Friday night was his crowning achievement. Pérez became the seventh pitcher in Miami Marlins history to toss a one-hit shutout in what was the first complete game of his major league career.

"Felt like through three or four innings that he was going to get deep into this one," Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. He was able to really get anything over the plate, full mix was there and the efficiency at which he was getting outs. He was throwing strikes for a lot of pitches and they were aggressive. He was able to create a lot of soft contact and get some early outs. He was getting into the seventh/eighth inning averaging around 11 pitches an inning. It's hard to be much better than that...Really proud and happy for Eury to finish up this way this year."

Pérez held the Atlanta Braves hitless through the first five innings before Sean Murphy singled to begin the sixth. The "Baby Goat" went on to retire 11 straight to finish the game.

Going into this start, the message for Pérez was simple: "Go out there and have fun." Just three days earlier, Pérez made his first career relief appearance in the bottom of the eighth inning against the Chicago Cubs and struck out the side. That moment not only stayed in his mind, but carried momentum into his final start of the season.

"What Daniel (Moskos) told me was that it was a lot of fun just to see me as a reliever over in Chicago, and to do the same thing here, which is just have fun," Pérez said via interpreter. "Even though there were some difficulties this month, I'm very happy that this was a good outing to end the season."

The right-handed flamethrower recorded eight strikeouts, his highest total in what has been a rocky month of September. Pérez generated 17 whiffs and of his eight strikeouts, seven of them were swinging strikeouts. Despite throwing his sweeper just 13% of the time, it generated three strikeouts, the most of any pitch. His fastball was averaging 98.0 mph and topped out at 99.3 mph.

Pérez finished the 2026 season posting a 3.91 ERA, 4.06 FIP, 9.62 K/9 and 3.85 BB/9, setting career-bests with 30 appearances and 159 innings pitched.

"Looking at the ERA, I don't know if it tells the full picture of how Eury has grown as a as a starting pitcher," McCullough said. "We've seen a stretch where Eury was arguably the best pitcher in baseball, and I think one that we're very confident that he's capable of putting together stretches like that, a complete season of really high-end performance. We've seen Eury struggle to find the strike zone with enough consistency, controlling the run game and through all of that, Eury has learned a lot about himself, too. How to better manage himself within outings, limit damage, stay in the moment and put behind what has happened and still go out there and finish an outing strong."

Going into 2027, he is eligible for arbitration for the first time. The Marlins and Pérez's representatives at CAA Sports previously had contract extension conversations, but those didn't go anywhere. Getting a deal done this coming offseason will prove to be even more difficult for the team now that the 23-year-old has a mostly healthy MLB season under his belt.

Catching Pérez's complete game was rookie Joe Mack, who also hit the go-ahead home run in the bottom of the seventh inning. It marked his 14th home run of the season to break up the scoreless tie. Mack is now slashing .234/.282/.403/.685 with 52 RBI and an 86 wRC+ in 105 games played, production that should earn him consideration for down-ballot National League Rookie of the Year votes.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Heriberto Hernandez extended the lead with an RBI single and Griffin Conine hit his 18th home run of the season, making it 3-0. For Conine, he now has an .813 OPS in the month of September. 

"Joe has certainly shown what he's been able to bring to our team defensively this season," McCullough said. "Big home run here tonight, and I think we all know there is a lot of room left in Joe's offensive game to get better, and I think that's the exciting part with Joe. He should be at the top of the class as catchers as far as being able to do things on both sides of the ball, and that's going to require him to continue to make some adjustments and improve on the offensive side."

The Marlins now have 79 victories, matching their total from 2025. They will go for their first series win against the Braves this season on Saturday with Jack Ralston starting what should be a bullpen game. First pitch is at 4:10 pm.

Should the Marlins keep Brian Navarreto as Joe Mack's backup entering the 2027 season?

Should the Marlins keep Brian Navarreto as Joe Mack's backup entering the 2027 season?

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