MIAMI -- The Marlins continue to move up the standings thanks to contributions from every member of the 26-man roster, but some individual performances have led the way during this recent hot streak.
Eury Pérez went six scoreless innings and Agustín Ramírez homered in Miami’s 4-1 victory over the Twins on Thursday afternoon at loanDepot park. The Marlins, whose eight-game win streak was snapped on Wednesday, still captured a fourth straight series for the first time since May 2024.
Pérez put together his best outing since returning from Tommy John surgery, permitting just one hit -- Trevor Larnach’s leadoff double in the fourth -- with a season-high seven strikeouts and one walk.
“I think the results have been good,” Pérez said via interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. “The confidence is coming back. I've been using more and more and more of my breaking pitches and improving that speed of those breaking ball pitches as well. I think that we want to actually win as many games as we can and get this team to the playoffs.”
The 22-year-old Pérez relied heavily on his four-seamer (57.5%) and slider (35%) in his fifth start back, with his four-seam usage the fifth highest for a single game in his career. His 52% zone rate was below his season average of 58.3%, but he got a good bit of chase on it (41% chase rate, in total).
His 20 whiffs were the second most in a single start, behind the 22 he induced on Aug. 19, 2023, at Dodger Stadium. Fourteen of those came on the four-seamer, which is a new single-game career high.
“When you have to, as a hitter, gear up for that type of velocity, and he's filling up the zone, it just opens up [many] more avenues to be able to utilize your secondary, and the secondary today was just much more in and around the zone so that the misses were smaller today,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “So they had to respect the heater, and then his confidence and ability to throw his sliders, [and he] used his changeup well today. He opened up a lot of lanes for himself to be able to go after guys, with them having to be up there ready to go.”
In turn, Miami’s lineup gave Pérez all the support he would need in a three-run first.
Xavier Edwards and Jesús Sánchez opened the inning with back-to-back singles before Otto Lopez produced a run-scoring fielder’s choice. Ramírez then lifted righty David Festa’s four-seamer at the top of the zone over the wall in left-center for a two-run shot.
The long ball was Ramírez’s first hit since his first-inning triple in Sunday's game in Arizona. He had gone 0-for-9 with three strikeouts and two walks until going deep on Thursday.
“During the week, [we] were working with high pitches, and I made the adjustment on that one,” Ramírez said via Dorante.
Including Thursday’s output, Ramírez paces all Major League rookies with 13 homers and is tied for the second-most RBIs (35), and he could have a chance of making the Midsummer Classic, depending on the National League’s roster makeup.
The Dodgers' Will Smith will be the NL's starting catcher, as voted on by the fans. Carson Kelly of the Cubs was the other NL finalist at catcher, with an .849 OPS entering Thursday. Hunter Goodman is likely to be the Rockies' All-Star representative, and justifiably so: He leads all NL backstops in homers (16) and RBIs (50).
“Just having my name around that conversation is a privilege,” Ramírez said. “I'm not thinking about that or those outcomes. I'm mostly focused on helping the team win games. And if that happens, I'll say ‘amen’ to that.”
Here is where Ramírez ranks among primary catchers since making his MLB debut on April 21:
• T-2nd in HRs (13)
• T-5th in RBIs (35)
• T-2nd in 2Bs (15)
If Ramírez were to make the All-Star team, he would join J.T. Realmuto (2018), Paul Lo Duca (2005) and Charles Johnson (2001, 1997) as the only primary backstops in franchise history to receive the honor.
“Gus should be in that conversation for an All-Star bid,” said McCullough, who will be on the NL’s coaching staff. “He's had some really big hits, and the power that he's shown, consistently hitting in the top of the order, the adjustments that he's made … He's continuing to get better behind the plate, working hard in that regard. Yes, Gus [at] that position, what he's done offensively, certainly he should be in that conversation.”