Today's Three Things: Martín Pérez Locks In as Braves Rally Late to Beat Miami
The Atlanta Braves turned what looked to be a budding shootout into a comfortable win
The Atlanta Braves took down the Miami Marlins 8-4 in loanDepot Park on Tuesday night to even the series at one game each.
Here is Today’s Three Things from the contest.
The Turning Point
The top of the 8th inning.
Miami starter Braxton Garrett only went three innings in his second start back in the majors since 2024, so the reliever parade was in full force for the Marlins. Calvin Faucher drew the short straw, being asked to handle the bottom of the order before closer Pete Fairbanks took the 9th.
Fairbanks never got into the game.
After a leadoff strikeout, Mike Yastrzemski drew a six-pitch walk to put the winning run on base. And then manager Walt Weiss started pulling the levers. First was pinch-hitter Dominic Smith, hitting for Sandy León. While he ultimately struck out, Yastrzemski was able to advance to second base on a wild pitch before both Ha-Seong Kim and Ronald Acuña Jr. each walked on six pitches to load the bases.
And then things got weird.
Mauricio Dubón hit something that could be classified somewhere between a routine grounder to second and a tailor-made double play…except first baseman Christopher Morel ranged over to make the play and no one was covering second…or first.
Yastrzemski scored and everyone else moved up 90 feet, meaning that Matt Olson’s ground ball through the left side in the next at-bat scored two more and pushed Dubón to third. Lake Bachar came in to get to final out of the inning, but Atlanta had the lead and would hold it in the bottom half of the inning.
Today’s Player of the Game
By vote of the postcast, it was Martín Pérez.
This was really two different starts for the veteran, but his ability to lock in after a shaky first inning meant that Atlanta was within striking distance.
Pérez was tagged for three runs in the first inning, opening with a homer given up to Xavier Edwards on a 1-0 cutter on the inner third and spiraling from there. An infield single by Otto Lopez was backstopped by two strikeouts, but a walk of Esteury Ruiz gave Kyle Stowers the chance to hang a crooked number on Pérez with a double to right.
After that 23-pitch inning, though, Pérez locked in. The lefty needed just 11 pitches for a scoreless second frame and finished with a career-high ten strikeouts. His changeup was, once again, the real star, picking up 7 of the lefty’s 12 whiffs (a 47% whiff rate). He sequenced really well, located plenty of pitches on the edges, and figured out what he was doing wrong remarkably quickly.
Going into spring training, I don’t think anyone had Pérez as a member of the rotation and not only has he produced, he’s arguably the third-most consistent starter behind Chris Sale and Bryce Elder.
What You’ll Be Talking About
The rough games of the left side of the infield.
Austin Riley went 0-4, striking out three times. The collapse of his plate approach was the glaring issue tonight - he saw 23 pitches in his five trips to the plate (he was HBP in the 9th), seeing only eight pitches in the strike zone but somehow still striking out three times. The one time he didn’t strike out was with runners on the corners and one out, and he instead hit a 41.6 mph comebacker to the pitcher.
Atlanta stranded 11 runners on base in the contest; Riley accounted for seven of those by himself. At this point, I don’t know what’s left to do other than move him down in the order and hope the role players like Dubón (3-5, R, RBI) can temporarily move up and replace the production you should be getting from the slugger.
Ha-Seong Kim also got on base via something other than a hit, drawing a walk in the 8th and coming around to score. But his poor defensive work continued in this one - Kim was charged with his second error of the season on a soft liner that went off his glove in the 5th inning, as well as allowing a runner to reach when he bobbled a routine grounder.
What compounds the frustration here is that, unlike 2025, Atlanta has two other shortstop options that are playing well so far this season in Dubón and Jorge Mateo. While I understand Kim didn’t have a spring training, we all assumed his offense would be the thing lagging behind and the reliable glove would be there on day one. It’s been anything but that so far.
Looking for more discussion about this game?
Here’s tonight’s Postcast, where I went live to break down the contest.
What’s Next for the Braves?
Tomorrow’s a Chris Sale day (6-3, 1.96 ERA), with the veteran hoping to break the two-game streak of Braves losses during his starts. He’ll take on the unfortunately-named Janson Junk (2-4, 4.14 ERA) at 6:40 PM ET.
I like the way you are willing to give both praise and harsh criticism as warranted.
1. Perez WAS good. If you look at the replay of the damaging double by Stowers, the pitch was on the inside black - a great pitch that somehow Stowers was able to turn on.
2. Kim has certainly been low-mediocre. I hope this improves as he gets more reps but with all the time he has missed over the past three years we may be stuck with another overpaid signing (the name Bummer comes to mind).
3. Riley is exasperating. I have no doubt he is as frustrated as anyone but....wow! Where is the tutelage of Chipper that seemed to help in the past?
First of all, Lindsay, I LOVE the way you "tell it like it is". My opine:
* Since the Braves are in the race for postseason, every game counts. Therefore, get Kim & Riley "help" (whatever that definition is) outside major league team.
*You are so right about Martin Perez. I've complained about AA and his fascination with old, tired arms (Bummer, Jose Suarez, the parade of them last season), But Martin has been a jewel in the rough. Don't know if he will fall off the table later, but right now, such a blessing.