Rookie Eury Perez pitched six scoreless innings, Jorge Soler homered and right fielder Jesus Sanchez prevented a grand slam with a leaping catch in the ninth inning as the Miami Marlins salvaged the finale of their three-game interleague series at Seattle with a 4-1 victory Wednesday night.
Perez (4-1), a 20-year-old right-hander, went more than five innings for the first time in his seven major league starts. He allowed two hits, one walk and struck out six.
Soler led off the sixth inning by hitting a 1-1 fastball from Seattle’s Luis Castillo (4-5) just over the fence in right-center field. It was Soler’s 20th homer of the season, the third-most in the majors behind the New York Mets’ Pete Alonso (22) and the Los Angeles Angels’ Shohei Ohtani (21).
The Mariners loaded the bases against reliever A.J. Puk with one out in the ninth on an infield single and two errors by second baseman Luis Arraez. Eugenio Suarez hit a drive to right but Sanchez reached over the wall to turn a tying homer into a sacrifice fly.
Castillo allowed two runs on two hits in 5 2/3 innings. The right-hander struck out six but matched a career-high with six bases on balls.
The Marlins opened the scoring in the third inning. Jonathan Davis reached on an infield single despite a diving stop by second baseman Jose Caballero. Soler drew a one-out walk and Bryan De La Cruz grounded into a force-out, sending Davis to third. Davis scored on a wild pitch by Castillo.
After Soler made it 2-0 in the sixth, Miami tacked on two runs in the eighth off reliever Justin Topa. Jesus Sanchez led off with a single to right and Jean Segura reached on an infield hit. Nick Fortes followed with a run-scoring double into the right-field corner and Davis lofted a sacrifice fly to center.
The only hits Perez allowed were a two-out double to right by Teoscar Hernandez in the fourth inning and a one-out double by Cal Raleigh to right-center in the fifth.
Perez got some help from his defense, as center fielder Davis twice made leaping catches at the wall to rob Seattle’s Hernandez and Suarez of extra bases.
Arraez went 0-for-3 to drop his MLB-leading batting average to .378.
–Field Level Media
