Marlins defy expectations with 6th straight win behind Pérez's gem

ARLINGTON – All season long, the Marlins have defied odds and expectations.

With a week remaining, they couldn’t possibly do the unimaginable, right?

Right-hander Eury Pérez struck out a season-high nine batters across four scoreless innings and four Marlins drove in a run in Sunday afternoon’s 4-2 victory over the Rangers at Globe Life Field.

Streaking Miami (76-80) has won six in a row for the second time this season, and 10 of 11, to pull within four games of the third and final National League Wild Card spot. The Marlins hold the tiebreaker over the Reds (80-76) and control their tiebreak destiny with the Mets (80-76), who visit Miami next weekend for the final series. The D-backs (79-77) and Marlins split the season series.

According to FanGraphs, Miami entered the series finale with a still-minuscule 0.1 percent chance of reaching the postseason.

“It's great, and we wanted to – regardless of where things were and what potentially could happen – we just wanted to play out this entire thing and to be playing well,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “I think we all feel great right now that we're kind of hitting a stride in the back half of this season, after a bit of a lull in August, to get back and play really, really sound baseball.

“As cliche as it is, ‘one at a time,’ and as long as we have a pulse, it adds a little bit to what we have left here. It feels good to win. I think it's more like the way we've been playing and how guys have really come together and all the contributions. Moving forward, that's what it's going to take. It's going to be a full roster each day that's going to need to contribute to help us win.”

Pérez set the tone by limiting the Rangers to two hits and one walk, extending his scoreless-inning streak to nine spanning two starts this week.

After sitting down the first batter he faced, Pérez issued a free pass and allowed a double. With a pair of runners in scoring position, he struck out Rowdy Tellez and induced an inning-ending groundout to thwart the threat. That kickstarted a stretch of 10 consecutive batters retired until Pérez’s two-out K of Josh Jung got away on a wild pitch. Cody Freeman followed with a single, but Pérez hunkered down to fan Jonah Heim to keep Texas off the board.

“What can I tell you? It was a really good inning there,” Pérez said via interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. “The adrenaline was to the roof, being able to get that and get those outs. It was such a hype that I was feeling above everybody.”

Since Sept. 10, the Marlins’ 10-1 record is the best in the National League. During this stretch, the pitching staff ranks third in the Majors in ERA (2.60) and WHIP (1.03) at the game’s conclusion. Over the weekend, the club introduced its new pitch-calling strategy to strong results.

The Marlins’ bats, meanwhile, broke a scoreless deadlock in the fourth against righty Merrill Kelly.

Xavier Edwards singled and stole a pair of bases to set up Otto Lopez’s double off the left-field wall for his team-leading 77th RBI. Heriberto Hernández extended the lead to 2-0 with a two-out RBI bloop single to left.

Agustín Ramírez tacked on an RBI double in the fifth, giving him 55 extra-base hits on the season, to tie Pudge Rodríguez for the most by a catcher in Marlins history.

When righty Lake Bachar coughed up a pair of runs in the sixth during his second inning of work, Miami got a run back in the seventh. Graham Pauley opened the frame with a triple and scored on Brian Navarreto’s sacrifice fly.

“I will say it's just that attitude of helping each other, working together as one, no egos, no selfishness,” Ramírez said via Dorante. “We continue to work like that. Helping each other is something that has given us a lot of success.”

During this same stretch, Miami has collected the most hits (112) and is tied for the third-most runs (64). Its +28 run differential is tied for second-best, behind only surging Cleveland (+29).

And just like that, the marathon season has become a sprint. The inexperienced Marlins many predicted would finish last in the NL East have yet to be officially eliminated. The Marlins have jumped from 62 to 76 wins this season; only the White Sox (+17) and Blue Jays (+16) have had a bigger improvement.

Following Monday’s off-day, breakout star Edward Cabrera will be reinstated from the injured list to face the NL East champion Phillies and keep momentum going.

“Keeping an eye on what's going around the league,” McCullough said. “It's an exciting time in baseball, and so keeping an eye on it and understanding that none of it matters unless we go take care of business and win as many as we can.”