Martin Perez Reflects On Career-High Strikeout Outing in Miami

Atlanta Braves manager Walt Weiss has used Martin Perez in just about every way a pitching staff can be used this season.

The 35-year-old lefty has started, relieved, and gone back to the rotation, never blinking once when Weiss asked him to switch roles.

He signed with the Braves in the offseason after a year with the Chicago White Sox, and through the first eight weeks, he has been the steadying veteran arm on a staff that has needed one badly.

On Tuesday night in Miami, Perez gave the Braves his best outing as a starter yet.

He struck out a career-high 10 batters across five innings of an 8-4 win at loanDepot park, getting there on 78 total pitches with 55 going for strikes.

The pitch doing all the damage was his changeup, which generated a 47 percent whiff rate.

Things did not begin well. Xavier Edwards led off the bottom of the first with a homer, and by the time Perez recorded the third out, Miami had a 3-2 lead.

He could have melted.

Instead he came back out and needed just 11 pitches to get through the second, then started riding the changeup hard.

Of his 12 swings and misses, seven came on that pitch.

Even with the career mark in front of him, Perez said the strikeouts were never the goal.

"Trust me that I didn't even have that in mind," Perez said. "I just simply went out there to have fun. We were feeling the pitches that were going to get strikeouts."

He went a little deeper after the game, too.

Whether it was the milestone or just the moment, Perez spoke about where Atlanta sits for him this year.

"First, I am thankful to God for allowing me to be part of a Major League team, especially with Atlanta," Perez said. "Such a great team and teammates. There is no ego, and that's what's important."

The Braves sit at 33-16, the second-best record in baseball, and they have done it despite losing Spencer Schwellenbach, Hurston Waldrep, and AJ Smith-Shawver, with rookie JR Ritchie also recently optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett.

Spencer Strider's return brought some relief, but Atlanta has still needed Perez to plug holes, and his 2.85 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, and 38-to-13 strikeout-to-walk ratio across 41 innings tell the story.

He has been at his sharpest when the team has had nowhere else to turn.

Take away one ugly afternoon in Arizona on April 5, and his ERA across the other eight outings sits at 1.45, exactly what a contender needs from a swingman handed every job in the room.

With the pitching staff getting healthier and Ronald Acuna Jr. back in the lineup, Perez lines up at home against Washington this weekend, the next chance to keep proving why Atlanta has refused to define his role.