Marlins, Perez’s inconsistent season continues in Citrus Series loss

Eury Perez continues to struggle for the Miami Marlins.

Despite expectations of being the second ace of the staff next to Sandy Alcantara, Perez has an ERA of 5.33, which is the fourth highest in the Major Leagues. He has allowed at least four earned runs in four of his 10 starts, and he has pitched more than five frames just four times.

Perez gave up five runs over five innings in the Marlins’ 6-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday, capping a 2-4 road trip.

“I think we just saw the inconsistency with the strike throwing,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said during his postgame press conference. “He worked hard for 15 outs today, and the pitch count really got driven up.”

Everything fell off for Perez in the fourth inning. He loaded the bases after issuing a leadoff walk, allowed a one-out double, and then another walk. Then Taylor Walls cleared the bases with a three-run triple to give the Rays a 4-2 lead, one they would not relinquish.

“Just the inability to consistently fill up the zone. The big inning right now,” McCullough said, “seems to get going a little bit, and a crooked number gets put up.”

Perez acknowledged that improvement needs to be made if he is going to reclaim his status as “Baby Goat.”

“I thought I was going to get out of the [fourth] inning, but you’ve got situations of the game,” Perez said through Marlins interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. “I have to continue working on the command, mostly with outside pitches, and righties.”

The Marlins (21-26) are only five games below .500 in the middle of May, so there is still time for them to turn it around, as they did last season. However, the pitching, which has the fifth-highest ERA in MLB (4.85) needs to improve for that turnaround to happen.

The Marlins return home to take on the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets, the best and worst of the National League East.