After flirting with a no-hitter in his last outing, left-hander Martin Perez will take the mound on Thursday when the Atlanta Braves go for a three-game sweep against the visiting Miami Marlins.
Atlanta, which has won a season-best seven in a row overall, improved to 7-2 against Miami this season with Wednesday’s 4-1 victory.
The Braves have recorded four sweeps this season; they are coming off a four-game sweep of the Washington Nationals.
Perez (7-6, 3.24 ERA) took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning of his last start against Washington on Saturday and wound up allowing one hit over seven scoreless frames in the 8-3 home win.
The effort also was notable since Perez was the emergency starter, learning he would be pitching less than an hour before the game when Reynaldo Lopez was scratched because of left knee inflammation and subsequently placed on the injured list.
“Martin once again showed what he’s all about and what he’s made of,” Atlanta manager Walt Weiss said. “We were scrambling. We didn’t know what we were going to do. But Martin jumped at it. He said, ‘I’ll take the ball. I’ve got it. I’ll start.’ And 45 minutes later, he’s on the mound going 6 2/3s no-hit ball. Pretty amazing.”
Perez has made six career appearances (five starts) against Miami, going 1-1 with a 3.68 ERA. He faced the Marlins on May 19 and did not figure in the decision after working five innings and allowing four runs with a season-high 10 strikeouts in Atlanta’s 8-4 road win.
Perez will be opposed by Miami right-hander Janson Junk (5-6, 4.58).
Junk earned a victory in his last start on Friday when he beat the host New York Mets. Junk pitched five innings and allowed one unearned on three hits with four strikeouts. It was his fourth start since returning from the injured list with right shin bone inflammation on July 9.
“We came into it knowing JJ was going to throw a lot of strikes early in count, so it gives you the ability to get some early outs,” Miami manager Clayton McCullough said. “He did a better job making some two-K pitches and did a nice job expanding when he needed to. This guy can spin a ball as well as anybody — the cutter, the sweeper. He can really manipulate the ball.
In two career starts against Atlanta, Junk is 1-1 with an 8.10 ERA. He faced the Braves on May 20 and got hammered for eight runs in five innings of a 9-1 home loss.
Austin Riley’s offensive woes may be coming to an end. The Braves’ slugging third baseman, who has been dropped to No. 8 in the lineup, was 2-for-4 with a double on Wednesday. He has a modest five-game hitting streak, his longest of the season, and is 8-for-17 with four extra-base hits (three doubles, homer) over that stretch.
Miami’s Otto Lopez, who leads the majors with 142 hits, has struggled on the current road trip, going 4-for-24.
–Field Level Media
