Acquiring Martin Perez in late July ahead of the trade deadline is paying off for the San Diego Padres.
The veteran left-hander has been a surprising asset for his new team, going 2-0 with a 3.41 ERA in his first six starts. More important, the Padres won all six of his outings, helping them stay in contention for a National League West title.
Perez (4-5, 4.71 ERA) and the Padres will try to keep their roll going on Thursday when they shoot for a three-game sweep of the visiting Detroit Tigers.
Perez, 33, was 2-5 with a 5.20 ERA in 16 starts this year when San Diego picked him up from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for a minor league pitcher.
Since his arrival in San Diego, he has used the curveball far more often than at any point in his 13 major league seasons and is finding success with it.
Even when he is not his sharpest, as was the case Friday night in a 13-5 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays, Perez was able to grind out five innings for the win. He permitted seven hits and four runs with three walks and four strikeouts. All four runs came in the second inning.
“I give him a ton of credit,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said of Perez. “He figured it out and I saw him start developing a little more rhythm by the fourth. He started making some more quality pitches, and the moxie of being a veteran paid off.”
Perez is 2-5 with a 5.56 ERA in 14 career outings (13 starts) against Detroit, which has touched him for 10 homers in 69 2/3 innings. His longest outing of the year came against the Tigers on April 9, when he fired eight innings of one-run ball while striking out seven in a no-decision for the Pirates.
While San Diego (80-61) tries to pull within four games of the idle Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West on Thursday while attempting to stay atop the NL wild-card standings, the Tigers (70-70) will aim to avoid a crushing sweep.
Detroit coughed up a 5-0 lead on Wednesday in a 6-5, 10-inning defeat, losing ground to Kansas City in the battle for the last American League wild card. The Tigers are now 5 1/2 games behind the Royals with 22 games remaining.
The result marked just the third time in a month that the Tigers allowed more than four runs. One reason they got to September in contention is the strategy of manager A.J. Hinch, who has opted for more openers and bulk relievers in order to give his pitchers better matchups.
“Part of our job is to put guys in a position to be successful and pitch them when they can get the most outs,” Hinch said. “It’s not going to be forever, but it’s been effective and it’s why we continue to stick with it.”
However, Detroit will roll with a conventional starter, Casey Mize (2-6, 4.36 ERA), in the series finale.
Mize, who had been sidelined for two months due to a strained left hamstring, came off the injured list to start Friday against the Boston Red Sox. He pitched six innings of the Tigers’ 7-5, 10-inning loss, permitting five hits and four runs, three earned. He walked one and struck out four.
The 27-year-old right-hander will face the Padres for the first time in his career.
–Field Level Media
