Marlins Lose Eury Perez, Then to Blue Jays in Rubber Match

The Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Miami Marlins 2-1 to win the home series 2-1 behind a go ahead home run by Kazuma Okamoto in the sixth inning.

For Okamoto it was his 11th homer and his first since Cinco De Mayo in a game against the Tampa Bay Rays. This comes after Okamoto was hit by a pitch by Eury Perez clocked at 97 mph during his first plate appearance. 

“When he’s staying to that side of the field, in center and right-center, he’s got pretty elite power,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said during his postgame press conference. “That was just a really good approach.”

The Marlins (26-31) had 11 hits compared to the Blue Jays five hits. They were aggressive on the bases as they had four runners who were caught stealing. The Marlins also went 2-for-11 with runners on base, and left eight men on base. 

As a team the Marlins pitching staff had 13 strikeouts led by Perez who went four innings, striking out a season high nine Blue Jays before exiting the game with a hamstring injury. Perez said during his postgame press conference via Marlins interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. that while talking to his pitching coach, he “felt tightness right there in my leg and I couldn’t get up.”

“I would say on a scale from 1-10, I would give a 10,” Perez said. “It was very painful. I knew I was not going to be able to go out there, and that was the same thought from our coaches, and we decided to go inside and just take a look at it.”

Blue Jay Pitcher Kevin Gausman was in a ten pitch battle with Xavier Edwards in the first at bat of the game. Edwards would eventually win that battle with a leadoff double to right field. Xavier scored one batter later when Otto Lopez singled to center to put the Marlins up 1-0 after the top of the first inning.

Nathan Lukes hit a double in the bottom of the fifth inning scoring Tyler Heineman to tie the game 1-1 going into the sixth inning.

For the second game in a row the Blue Jays used the sixth inning to really pull ahead when Okamoto gave the Blue Jays the lead hitting a solo shot that would seal the deal. 

Jeff Hoffman (3-3) earned the win for the Blue Jays (27-29) after going 1.1 innings with two hits and two strikeouts.

Marlins reliever Andrew Nardi was charged with the loss after 1.1 innings with one run, one hit, two strikeouts and one home run.

Blue Jays superstar Vladimir Guerrero went 2-for-5 five in his first game of the series. 

Edwards went 3-for-3 with one run, and Lopez went 4-for-4 with 1 RBI to lead the Marlins at the plate. 

Max Meyer (5-0, 2.52 ERA) will pitch for the Marlins at the New York Mets on Friday, May 29.

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