Eury Perez pitched seven scoreless innings, winning a battle between a pair of elite, young right-handers as the host Miami Marlins defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 2-0 on Tuesday.
Perez (6-9) struck out seven batters and did not allow a runner past first base. He allowed just three hits and two walks, lowering his ERA to 3.39. Perez, 23, has a 1.94 ERA over his past 11 starts.
Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes (9-11) took the loss, allowing five hits, one walk and two runs, one earned, in five innings. Skenes struck out four but was removed after just 65 pitches. His fastball, which led all qualified starters last year with an average velocity of 98.1 mph, had a norm of just 95.7 on Tuesday.
Miami’s offense was led by Esteury Ruiz, who hit a solo homer. Griffin Conine nearly hit two dingers, including one shot that Pirates left fielder Bryan Reynolds caught with his arm two feet over the fence.
The first inning was eventful as Perez struck out all three batters he faced.
Skenes, meanwhile, escaped the bottom of the first as Otto Lopez hit an infield single, and Conine drove a first-pitch fastball 400 feet to center field, where Jake Mangum caught the ball on the warning track.
Miami, again hunting a first-pitch fastball, opened the scoring in the third as Ruiz pulled his homer 384 feet to left.
The Marlins threatened again in the fourth, putting runners on second and third with two outs on singles by Conine and Javier Sanoja. However, Skenes struck out Owen Caissie on three pitches.
In the fifth, Skenes – wary of Ruiz after the homer – hit him with a first-pitch fastball that was up and in. Ruiz got his revenge by stealing second and scoring on a ground ball to shortstop that Jacob Gonzalez grabbed before throwing wildly to first for an error.
Pittsburgh nearly got a runner into scoring position with two outs in the seventh as Ronny Simon singled and tried to stretch his hit into a double. However, left fielder Heriberto Hernandez got him with a bullet, one-hop throw to second baseman Xavier Edwards.
Pete Fairbanks closed out the game by pitching a perfect ninth to earn his 18th save of the year.
-Field Level Media
