Nick Fortes, Eury Pérez lead Marlins past Angels 2-0 for series sweep
Eury Pérez struck out Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout early in his fourth major league start. He then retired Trout on a long fly to strand two Angels runners with his final pitch, and the big 20-year-old rookie clapped his glove in celebration all the way to the dugout.
Pérez's fourth major league start was his most promising yet, and the Miami Marlins' bullpen was just as good while they completed an encouraging series sweep on the West Coast.
Nick Fortes homered and doubled, Pérez pitched five innings of two-hit ball and the Marlins concluded their 10-game road trip Sunday with a 2-0 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.
Pérez (2-1) and five Miami relievers combined on a five-hitter that ended the Angels' majors-best streak of 94 consecutive games without a shutout loss since Aug. 21, 2022.
"My emotions were very high," Pérez said through his translator. "Facing batters like them was unbelievable. Every single pitch when Trout was in the box, I think the ball was running up there a little faster. It was exciting."
The 6-foot-8 Pérez walked four, but the young right-hander with the 100-mph fastball otherwise had his longest and most effective outing since getting called up earlier this month.
"He got some big outs at some big moments against some really good hitters," Miami manager Skip Schumaker said. "Getting Trout and Ohtani is probably a big highlight of his young career. We needed a lot of guys to step up in a lot of ways, and they did it."
The Marlins' bullpen shut down Los Angeles yet again after Pérez left, highlighted by Tanner Scott's strikeout of Ohtani to strand two in the seventh. Miami intentionally walked Trout as the tying run to get to Ohtani, who went 5 for 33 with 13 strikeouts on the Angels' homestand, including three whiffs Sunday.
JT Chargois allowed two hits and a walk in the ninth, but he retired Trout on a game-ending popup to second with two runners in scoring position. Chargois earned his first save in 173 appearances during a major league career that began in 2016.
Trout or Ohtani made the final out in five of the Angels' nine innings, combining to strand six runners.
"I'm not worried about them," Angels manager Phil Nevin said. "They come out of it and they go crazy. It just so happens that right now both of them aren't at their best, maybe. Still, we get to the point in the game when Mike is up there with a chance to win it (or) tie it. I'll take that every day."
Jean Segura had an RBI single for the Marlins, who have won four of five. They finished 5-5 on their trip by securing their franchise's first sweep of a three-game series with the Angels, who couldn't score despite drawing eight walks Sunday.
Patrick Sandoval (3-4) yielded eight hits and two runs over six innings in his fourth consecutive winless start for the Angels, who went 5-4 on their nine-game homestand. Los Angeles stranded 11 runners in the finale.
"It's not a good taste in our mouth, obviously, after the way the homestand was going," Nevin said. "Certainly not what we were setting out to do after what we had accomplished in the first two series. We didn't play our best this weekend, that's no secret."
Jorge Soler went 0 for 4, ending his streak of five consecutive games with a homer. The Miami slugger finished one game shy of Giancarlo Stanton's franchise record of six straight in 2017.
Miami got its first baserunner on Fortes' homer in the third inning. Fortes also doubled and singled in his second multi-hit game of the series.
Sandoval intentionally walked Yuli Gurriel in the sixth to get to Segura, who delivered a soft single on the first pitch and then flipped his bat incredibly high in the air, sending it sailing nearly all the way to first base.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Marlins: LHP Trevor Rogers will start a rehab assignment with Single-A Jupiter next week. He has been sidelined since April 19 with a left biceps strain, but he could be back in the rotation soon if his rehab progresses well.
Angels: LHP Matt Moore went on the 15-day injured list with a right oblique strain after injuring himself in warmups Friday. Ben Joyce, a 6-foot-5 reliever with a 105-mph fastball, joined the club but did not make his major league debut Sunday.
UP NEXT
Marlins: Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcántara (2-5, 4.86 ERA) will look to continue his rebound Tuesday when he takes the mound in Miami for a series opener against San Diego.
Angels: Griffin Canning (3-2, 4.95 ERA) takes the mound Monday on the Southside when Los Angeles opens a seven-game road trip with three against the Chicago White Sox.
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