Eury Perez was in full command for seven innings, and the Miami Marlins did just enough late to escape with a 9-8 win over the Athletics on Sunday in West Sacramento, Calif., finishing off a three-game sweep.
Perez was perfect through seven before Miami pulled him, and the no-hit bid disappeared right away in the eighth. Lake Bachar walked Lawrence Butler and then allowed a single to Joshua Kuroda-Grauer, ending the shot at history. Even so, the Marlins kept rolling, winning for the 13th time in their last 17 games and climbing to a season-high seven games over .500.
Perez (5-6) struck out eight and needed 92 pitches to cover seven innings. It was the third time in his career the 23-year-old has gone seven.
Miami’s offense backed him with a power barrage. Heriberto Hernandez reached base five times, going 3 for 3 with two walks and two homers. Otto Lopez also had a big day, finishing with three hits, a homer and three RBIs to push his major league-best average to .346.
Leo Jimenez added another homer, and the Marlins set a franchise record with 12 home runs over the three-game series. Xavier Edwards, Liam Hicks and Brian Navarreto each chipped in two hits.
The A’s made things much tighter than it looked early, with Jonah Heim launching a grand slam and finishing with a career-high six RBIs. Still, Oakland dropped its 11th game in 14 tries.
Gage Jump (3-3) took the loss after giving up six runs and eight hits in three innings.
The game got wild in the ninth, when the Athletics brought the winning run to the plate. Trailing 9-5, Zack Gelof opened the inning with a single off Pete Fairbanks, and Butler followed with a double. Gelof scored on a passed ball by Joe Mack before Fairbanks got the next two outs.
Then Max Muncy walked and moved to second on defensive indifference, and Heim ripped a two-run single. Brian Serven grounded out to end it.
Oakland’s rally started almost immediately after Perez left. Butler drew a walk for the A’s first baserunner, and Kuroda-Grauer followed with a high, shallow popup that dropped into right field for the club’s first hit. Carlos Cortes then doubled in a run with a ball that one-hopped the right-field wall.
After Muncy walked to load the bases, Heim cleared them with his homer to right, making it five runs in five batters since Perez had exited. Serven then added a bloop single, knocking Bachar out of the game. Michael Peterson came in and stopped the surge with a fielder’s choice, a caught stealing and a strikeout of Nick Kurtz.
Miami added a key insurance run in the top of the ninth when Lopez reached on an infield hit and later scored on Hicks’ infield tap out.
The Marlins had already built a big cushion by then. Hernandez opened the scoring in the second inning by crushing a 437-foot homer to center as the second batter of the game against Jump. Miami added two more in the second on Lopez’s ground-rule double and Hicks’ sacrifice fly.
Jimenez’s two-run shot in the third made it 5-0, and Lopez followed with a sacrifice fly later in the inning. In the sixth, Lopez and Hernandez went back-to-back against Mason Barnett to stretch the lead to 8-0.
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