On the same day Jared Jones was sent to the 15-day IL with a suspected right lat strain, Martin Pérez turned in one of his best outings of the season and showed he could be leaned on moving forward.
Pérez scattered six hits over 7 1/3 innings while striking out two and walking one. He threw 92 pitches, 59 of which went for strikes, and worked himself out of a few different jams in his second-longest outing of the season before handing it over to the bullpen.
"That was a good rebound start for him," Derek Shelton said. "He executed all of his pitches. I think he gave us 90 plus and was able to go out in the eighth and keep a matchup that we liked. But, overall, I thought that he was really good."
After a rough May where he recorded a 7.54 ERA and only got out of the fifth inning once, Pérez made his first June start last Friday against Atlanta and it wasn't pretty. He allowed six earned runs over four innings and gave up eight hits while striking out four and walking two.
However, Pérez got July started in a much better way as he was able to spread out hits and make big pitches when he needed to limit damage.
One of those crucial situations came in the sixth inning with runners on first and third and no outs. Pérez got Willson Contreras to ground into a double play with a cutter low in the zone before striking out Paul Goldschmidt on another low cutter.
"I remember I told Oneil (Cruz), 'Were going to be out of this inning, I got this,'" Pérez said. "So I just focused to make my pitches and throw the ball where I wanted. I was trying to change their eyes and use different locations."
Pérez attributed his bounce-back outing to the work he's been doing in his bullpens. He said he's been working on his release point so he can locate his pitches more effectively. He thought he was on top of the ball too much which was causing him to push his pitches, he said. That wasn't the case in this start as he said all of his pitches were working, especially his sinker.
"Everything with my sinker was perfect. It came back where I wanted and it finished where I wanted," Pérez said.
According to baseballsavant.com, Pérez threw his sinker 45% of the time, this was compared to the 19 cutters (21%) and 15 changeups (16%) he threw. He was able to keep the ball low and induce 11 ground balls in the outing, which kept runners off the base paths for the most part.
Overall, an outing like this, where he looked completely in control from start to finish, will do a lot for Pérez in the long run. It will build his confidence and give him something to work off of moving into the rest of July. He knows that is important for both him and the team.
"They need me now so that we have a chance to make it to the playoffs and that's what we want," Pérez said. "I think all the starters have been doing a good job and I think an outing like this one is good for me because it gets me back to what I want to be. So, we are just going to keep doing our things and things are going to get better."
With Jones going down, Pérez's presence in the starting rotation becomes much more important. With Paul Skenes and Mitch Keller at the top, someone will need to fill in the hole for at least the next few weeks. Shelton said the team is still evaluating Jones' situation and said there will be more information in the next day or two.
"The hope is right now that we have to figure out what it is and how significant it is, so that's the most important thing," Shelton said.
Whether Jones comes back sooner or later, Pérez showcased what he's capable of. He's made his adjustments, worked them into a gameplan and found what he's been seeking.
"I mean, I've been looking for an outing like this one for a long time," Pérez said.
