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.
In Other News...
As Draft Focus Is Creating Real Tension Around The No. 8 Pick
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Dietz brings the safer feel of a college pitcher, while Rojas offers the kind of ceiling that can make a front office lean in if the draft starts breaking a certain way. Oakland could still pivot if the names ahead of them create a different opening, and there are other bats and arms in the mix as the first round unfolds. For now, though, the tension is less about whether the As want pitching and more about which type of pitcher they trust most when their turn finally arrives. [Read more 🡒]
Athletics All-Star Breakthrough Could Change Everything For This Young Core
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Kurtz is under team control through 2031 and is already in contract talks, which gives the Athletics a chance to lock in a centerpiece before his value climbs any higher. Langeliers brings a different kind of urgency, with free agency looming in 2028 and Scott Boras representing him, a combination that tends to keep front offices on alert. Together, their All-Star recognition could shape not just how the Athletics are viewed this summer, but how aggressively they approach the next few seasons. [Read more 🡒]
As Road Trip Opens With The Kind Of Test That Changes Everything
A road trip that opens in Detroit and then rolls on to Chicago gives the Athletics little room to ease into the week, especially with the Tigers lining up one of the more difficult arms they will see. Oakland gets J.T. Ginn in the series, and he has at least given the club a steadier look lately after a strong six-inning outing, but the bigger backdrop is a team trying to stop the slide before it hardens into something more damaging in the standings.
The challenge is even sharper because Detroit can answer with Tarik Skubal, a pitcher whose return has already changed the tone around that rotation and around the market that may follow him. If the A's are going to make this trip matter for the right reasons, they will need sharper work from the top of the staff and a cleaner showing than what has defined much of the recent stretch, with Chicago waiting next as another test that can expose where this group really stands. [Read more 🡒]