Right-hander Eury Perez, who is coming off a brilliant month, will start on Saturday afternoon as his Miami Marlins try to win another series.
The host Marlins rallied on Friday against the New York Yankees to win the opening game of this three-game set, 13-12. The Marlins trailed 9-4 in the seventh and 12-10 in the ninth and rallied both times as the Yankees’ new-look bullpen suffered a massive collapse.
Now it’s up to Perez, who is 3-3 with a 3.07 ERA this year after missing 2024 due to elbow surgery. In July, he went 3-1 with a 1.29 ERA.
The only better month for Perez came in June of 2023, when he went 3-0 with an 0.32 ERA.
Perez has faced the Yankees just once, going 0-0 with a 9.00 ERA. If he wins on Saturday, that will make the Marlins 10-1-1 in their past 12 series. Since June 13, the Marlins are 28-14.
Meanwhile, the Yankees — who had their three-game winning streak snapped on Friday — will turn to rookie right-hander Cam Schlittler (1-1, 4.91 ERA). He will make just his fourth MLB appearance and his first against Miami.
On Friday, the Yankees got three-run homers from DH Giancarlo Stanton and center fielder Trent Grisham.
Stanton, limited to 33 games this year due to injuries, has five homers in his past nine games. He has 438 career homers, the most by any active major leaguer.
Grisham, meanwhile, is third on the Yankees with 19 homers, behind Cody Bellinger (20) and Aaron Judge (37). Judge is out due to an injury to his right elbow, but he took batting practice Friday and could return as soon as Tuesday.
But as good as the Yankees must feel about their offense right now, the team’s high-priced pitching staff took a beating on Friday. All-Star Carlos Rodon was handed a six-run lead. He struck out nine batters but couldn’t finish the fifth inning.
New York’s bullpen wasn’t any better, especially three relievers acquired just before the trade deadline Thursday — Jake Bird (four runs allowed in one-third of an inning), David Bednar (two runs in 1 2/3 innings), and Camilo Doval (three runs in one-third of an inning).
Bednar and Doval blew save opportunities, and Doval (4-3) took the loss.
Before Friday’s game, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he was optimistic about his bullpen.
“I feel way more equipped today than I felt a week ago,” Boone said. “We definitely had issues that we addressed.”
After the game, Boone did not change his tune.
“Not how you draw it up, but those guys are really good at what they do,” Boone told the New York Post. “It’s not the first time they’ve had a rough one, and (we) fully expect them to bounce back. We’ll get ‘em tomorrow.”
To be fair, Friday’s loss for the Yankees was just one game, and the team is still in wild-card position with 52 games remaining.
The Marlins are not in playoff position — at least not yet — but they are playing with confidence.
How else to explain Marlins catcher Agustin Ramirez — a former Yankees prospect — stealing two bases in Friday’s fourth inning? How else to explain Javier Sanoja homering down the right field line and then the left field line even though he is 5-foot-7 and 150 pounds and had only one homer this season entering Friday?
And how to explain left fielder Kyle Stowers coming out of nowhere this year to become an All-Star? He hit his 24th homer of the season on Friday, a grand slam off of Bednar.
“We’re relentless,” said Marlins second baseman Xavier Edwards, who scored the walk-off winning run on Friday. “We’re fearless — doesn’t matter who we’re playing. We never give up.”
-Field Level Media
