Miami Marlins Edge Mets Behind Strong Performance by Perez

MIAMI — The Miami Marlins defeated the New York Mets 2-1 on Friday behind the dominant pitching of Eury Perez.

Perez, who entered the game 0-3 in his career against the Mets, went 6.1 IP, giving up only two hits and one run with five strikeouts. It’s a continuation from his previous outing against New York, where he struck out 11 batters in 5.1 innings in a loss. 

"It's been an uneven start to his season, and he just hung with it," Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said in his postgame press conference. "Why we do this is that with talented guys like Eury, you just hang in there and keep coaching.

Friday’s win was crucial to the pitcher who was coming off of five straight losses. His last win was on April 19 against the Brewers. 

Perez has been decent at home in his short career, with a 8-7 record and a 2.78 ERA with 141 strikeouts entering Friday.

“He's still got a long way to go,” McCullough said, “and we like to be able to see this terrific outing. He's needed to get on a good run here, but tonight, he should feel great about it, because it goes back to the strike-throwing, being in the zone, and he got some great defense behind him by (Jakob) Marsee in center field."

One of Perez’s two hits came on a solo home run by Juan Soto in the first inning. The Mets superstar took a 99mph fastball deep to right center field to give New York an early 1-0 lead.

"I didn’t want it to be a home run, but I also didn’t want it to be a walk," Pérez said through Marlins translator Luis Dorante Jr. "I wanted to compete against him, make my best pitch there, and he had a good result from his side. After that, I decided to stay focused anyway, keep my head up and know that the game didn’t end there."

The Marlins offense was a tag-team effort between outfielders Esteury Ruiz and Owen Caissie. Ruiz hit a double in the second inning and a triple in the fourth. Both times he was driven home by Caissie. 

“We know we’re a good ball club,” Caissie said. 

Miami will play the Mets in game two of their series Saturday at IoanDepot park. Max Meyer (4-0, 2.85 ERA) will be on the mound for Miami in his third career start against the Mets. In his last appearance, Meyer went six innings with only three hits allowed in a shutout victory on Monday.

The Mets will start Freddy Peralta, who is 3-3 on the season while boasting an 3.31 ERA on the season. 

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