Marlins pull Eury Pérez after 7 perfect innings, ending his perfect game bid as fans react

Miami’s young right-hander retired every batter he faced through seven before the Marlins made a cautious pitching change in his return stretch. The Athletic’s top-line reliever provided a late burst of offense, and the moment became a protest point in the stands.

By The Apex Times Newsroom3 min readAI-assisted Apex article

Sunday at the ballpark began with something rare for the Miami Marlins, but it did not end the way most fans pictured when Eury Pérez made history-adjacent work look routine. Pérez retired all 21 batters he faced through seven innings against the Oakland Athletics, setting up the kind of run that can lead to an MLB perfect game if the order never breaks and the manager never blinks.

The decision that followed came from Miami’s dugout. According to reports, Marlins manager Clayton McCullough lifted Pérez after seven flawless innings, with Pérez reaching 92 pitches in the effort. The same reports tied Pérez’s workload and timing to his comeback, noting he was making just his third start since returning from a thigh injury, and that the seven-inning stretch tied a season high for the right-hander.

Pérez’s pathway back to the mound provides more context for why the Marlins might prefer a controlled approach. Before the start of the 2024 season, he underwent Tommy John elbow surgery that sidelined him through all of 2024 and into part of 2025. With that history, the pitch-count and the “pull the starter before things get risky” mindset can quickly become more important than chasing the perfect-game line.

The move, however, did not land well with everyone in attendance. Reports described fans responding to Pérez’s removal by chanting “shame” and drawing attention to the Marlins dugout as the eighth inning began. In Sacramento, the reaction turned the in-game decision into a public argument about whether managers should prioritize preservation over the chance at a once-in-a-generation finish.

The final outcome swung on what happened next. After Pérez’s exit, Miami called on reliever Lake Bachar, and the perfect game immediately unraveled. Bachar walked Lawrence Butler, then allowed a single to Joshua Kuroda-Grauer and an RBI double to Carlos Cortes. With the inning still live, Bachar surrendered another walk to Max Muncy and later gave up a grand slam to Jonah Heim, a sequence that both ended the bid and produced an Athletics rally.

The rarity of what Miami was chasing also helps explain why the reaction was so sharp. The most recent perfect game in Major League Baseball prior to this moment had been thrown by Domingo Germán of the New York Yankees on June 28, 2023, and it also came against the Athletics. For Marlins fans and players alike, that recent reference point raised the emotional temperature around whether Pérez should have stayed in longer.

Going forward, the key question for Miami is how this outing affects the management of Pérez’s return timeline. The Marlins have now shown they are willing to remove their starter at a specific pitching threshold even when the lineup is retired cleanly through multiple turns. The next innings and the next start will be less about whether Pérez gets near-perfect results and more about whether Miami can keep him available for the long arc of the season without triggering the caution that drove Sunday’s decision.

keyFacts

Why It Matters

For the Marlins, the episode underscores how player-return management can outweigh headline moments, especially for pitchers coming off significant injury histories.
For the Athletics, the late swing illustrates how quickly a “clean” game can change once the lineup confronts a fresh arm in the late innings.
For MLB as a whole, it highlights how rare perfect games are and how close this moment came to joining a small list, with only two-plus years separating the last one mentioned in reports.
For fans, the crowd reaction reflects a larger debate in baseball about whether managers should chase historic outcomes even when workload and injury prevention are in play.

Sources

Key Facts

Eury Pérez retired all 21 batters he faced through seven innings against the Oakland Athletics on Sunday, June 5.
Reports say Marlins manager Clayton McCullough removed Pérez after seven innings and 92 pitches.
Pérez was making just his third start since returning from a thigh injury.
Reports say the pitch came after Pérez’s previous Tommy John elbow surgery before the 2024 season kept him out through all of 2024 and half of 2025.
After Pérez was lifted, Lake Bachar gave up a walk, a single, an RBI double, and later a grand slam that ended the perfect game bid.
The most recent previous MLB perfect game cited in reports was thrown by Domingo Germán on June 28, 2023, also against the Athletics.