Pérez shines, Ok’s Ohtani as Marlins end journey with glad flight

ANAHEIM — The massive league initiation of Eury Pérez introduced new challenges Sunday, primarily two of baseball’s premiere hitters. 

Some challenges are greater than others. That was the case within the backside of the fifth, 76 pitches into Pérez’s fourth profession begin. Two on with two outs and a one-run lead, up stepped Mike Trout. 

MLB Pipeline’s prime pitching prospect started with a strike low and on the surface nook. The second pitch was within the grime. The 1-1 providing was away. Trout swung and struck it properly, however not properly sufficient. Bryan De La Cruz eased over in left discipline for the inning-ending catch.

The 20-year-old Pérez slapped his arms collectively as he walked off the mound with loads of purpose to rejoice. The Marlins have purpose to rejoice, as properly, with the 2-0 win over the Halos to safe a collection sweep.

“Emotions were very high,” Pérez mentioned by way of crew interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. “I was enjoying every single at-bat, every pitch. When Trout was in the box, the ball was running a bit faster. There’s a little extra heat there.”

Allowing two hits over 5 shutout innings, Pérez delivered his most spectacular outing up to now, incomes his second win. Getting the victory had its personal set of difficulties, although.

After utilizing 5 relievers within the 10-inning victory on Saturday night time, supervisor Skip Schumaker known as on 5 once more on this finale of a three-city, 10-game street journey and overcame any exhaustion they could have had. 

“They’re on fumes,” Schumaker mentioned. “But you wouldn’t know it by the way they pitched.”

JT Chargois entered for the ninth inning, aiming for his first profession save. Like Pérez, a gathering vs. Trout was the ultimate impediment. With the tying runs in scoring place, Chargois acquired the three-time AL MVP to hit a mushy fly that Luis Arraez tracked down for the ultimate out. 

“[Chargois has] got an insane sinker that has a lot of movement along with a wipeout slider,” mentioned Tanner Scott, who threw 16 of his 21 pitches for strikes. “Everyone in our bullpen is fun to watch.”

The encounters Pérez had with the 2 bold-faced names of the Angels lineup — Trout and Shohei Ohtani — underscored his potential. In the primary inning, he acquired Ohtani to strike out swinging on a curveball after being behind within the depend, 3-0. It took Pérez solely eight pitches to get via the third, highlighted by strikeout of Trout on a 97 mph fastball. Ohtani managed a single to guide off the fourth, however Pérez rapidly set down the batters who adopted. 

Pérez’s command started to waver within the fifth, when two walks and a wild pitch put him in peril of giving up his first run of the afternoon. A fielder’s selection stored the inning alive for Trout, however all it did was permit Pérez to show his superior pitching maturity.  

“He got some big outs in big moments against some really great hitters,” Schumaker mentioned. “Getting Trout and Ohtani out are probably the highlights of his early career.”

The superior pitching performances was wanted on a day when Marlin bats have been comparatively quiet, albeit well timed.

Miami’s string of 4 straight video games with at the least six runs scored got here to a halt, as did Jorge Soler’s 5 consecutive video games with a homer. 

Soler went 0-for-4 and by no means actually acquired the ball out of the infield. He was changed within the eighth for protection. 

Instead, it was Nick Fortes who equipped the facility. The catcher’s one-out homer to left within the third was a part of a three-hit efficiency to enhance his calling of a shutout behind the plate. It was additionally the sport’s solely run till the sixth.

With a runner at third and two outs within the sixth, Los Angeles deliberately walked Yuli Gurriel in entrance of Jean Segura, who boasts a sub-.200 batting common. In the spirit of Michael Jordan, Segura took it personally. He did not hit the primary pitch he noticed arduous (79.7 mph) however he did hit it within the good spot: previous first baseman Jared Walsh and into proper discipline. Segura punctuated the two-out RBI single with a bat toss that had grasp time akin to some NFL punts. 

“He’s fighting,” Schumaker mentioned. “The care factor is there. He’s not happy about where he’s at. So to get that insurance run for us was huge.”

The flight of Segura’s bat may additionally symbolize the hopes of the crew. Miami countered a tough begin to the street journey — during which it misplaced 5 of its first seven video games — to go again to South Florida  to host San Diego on Tuesday having cut up the ten video games away from mortgageDepot Park.

“You want to try to get to .500 on the road,” Schumaker mentioned. “It didn’t look great after Colorado and San Francisco. But credit to the guys. It’s going to be feel much better going back home.”