MIAMI — The question about Eury Pérez going into Sunday’s series finale was the same question it’s been all season: can he finish at-bats? Can he get through six innings without the walk rate swallowing his outings whole? Can the 23-year-old Dominican right-hander be what this team needs him to be on the days Sandy Alcántara isn’t pitching?
Sunday was the answer. Six innings. Three hits. One unearned run. One walk. Seven strikeouts. Zero earned runs.
Miami beat Milwaukee 5-3. The four-game losing streak is over. The Marlins are 10-12.
Is the Roof Open?
Yes. Open roof on a Sunday afternoon. 72 degrees, no wind, the kind of South Florida spring day that makes the loanDepot park retractable roof worth having. The Basketball jersey was yesterday. Today was just baseball in the sun.
Roof status noted every home series. Today: open. Today’s outcome: a win. We’ll take it.
Miami Marlins starting pitcher Eury Perez throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Eury Pérez — The Command Watch Turns
The full Wednesday column will break this down. The short version: Eury Pérez threw 84 pitches Sunday. Fifty-eight were strikes. He got seven outs on strikeouts. He walked one batter. He gave up a run in the sixth on a David Hamilton stolen base where Liam Hicks’ throw went into left field — unearned, not on Eury. His actual command was the cleanest it’s been in 2026.
The first inning set the tone: Garrett Mitchell struck out swinging. Brice Turang flew out to center. Gary Sánchez popped up. Three up, three down, 11 pitches. That’s the version of Eury Pérez that makes this rotation work. He carried that rhythm through six.
His ERA dropped from 5.40 to 4.15. His BB/9 is still higher than you’d like, but Sunday was evidence the ceiling is real. One walk in six innings. Seven strikeouts. No earned runs. When Eury Pérez is this version of himself, the Marlins have the best young international rotation in baseball.
Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Kyle Stowers: Hello
Kyle Stowers entered the game as a left fielder in the first inning — his 2026 season debut after the hamstring strain that kept him out of the first 21 games. In the fifth inning, he lined a sharp double to right field off Jacob Misiorowski. First hit of 2026, first extra-base hit of 2026, 101.4 mph exit velocity. He finished 2-for-3 with a walk.
In 2025, Stowers hit 25 home runs and drove in 73 runs in 117 games. He was the first Marlins outfielder named an NL All-Star since Giancarlo Stanton in 2017. He is also the most significant American-born addition to this lineup since the season started — which, given how the Marlins’ offense has been constructed, is a notable shift in the roster’s center of gravity.
The international core still runs this lineup. But Stowers hitting cleanup behind the Dominican-Venezuelan-Canadian quartet changes the lineup’s profile significantly. He’s the protection that makes the lineup harder to pitch around.
The Sanoja Moment
Javier Sanoja entered as a pinch hitter for Graham Pauley in the sixth inning with the Marlins leading 3-1, Liam Hicks on third, Owen Caissie on second. DL Hall was pitching for Milwaukee. Sanoja lined a single to center on the first pitch. Two runs scored. 5-1.
Sanoja (?? Venezuela) hitting in a high-leverage moment as a pinch hitter and delivering — that’s the roster depth WBN has been pointing at since spring training. He stayed in the game at third base for the final three innings. He’s hitting .327 on the season. He might be the best bench player in the NL East right now.
Miami Marlins’ Javier Sanoja tosses his bat after hitting a RBIb single to score tworuns during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Michael Petersen ?? — The Hold
When Eury Pérez exited after six innings with a 5-1 lead, Michael Petersen took over. He retired five of the six batters he faced over the next 1.2 innings, allowing one hit and striking out one. When Andrew Nardi entered to finish the inning with the Brewers threatening, he faced zero batters — Nardi recorded zero outs, issued zero walks, and left the mound without incident after the pitching change reset the inning.
Petersen’s bio deserves a full feature at some point this season, and WBN will write it. The short version: born in Middlesex, United Kingdom. Moved to California as a child, grew up in San Jose. Attended community colleges in California. Drafted four times. Underwent Tommy John surgery in 2021. Represented Great Britain in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. Is the first British-born player to appear in MLB since P.J. Conlon on July 10, 2018.
He is also, quietly, one of the better relievers on this staff. His 2026 ERA is 2.79. His K/9 is 7.45. He generates groundballs at an above-average rate and hasn’t walked anyone in his last five appearances. The Marlins got him from Atlanta for cash considerations last July. He’s been exactly what they needed: a steady international arm from the most unlikely of international baseball nations.
Carlos Rodriguez ?? — The Nicaragua Note
Jacob Misiorowski, 24, from Palos Hills, Illinois — a Polish-American surname that will never not make WBN think about the 2069 World Baseball Classic — gave Miami five innings, nine strikeouts, three runs (one earned). The wild pitch that scored Miami’s first run in the first was the moment the game turned. He’s not the story today.
— the only Nicaraguan currently on any MLB 40-man roster — pitched the seventh inning for Milwaukee. He allowed two hits (Stowers single, Hicks double) but no runs, striking out two. His ERA dropped to 0.00 on the season.
When Rodriguez pitched Sunday, he was facing a Marlins team that includes Leo Jiménez from Panama — the country that shares Nicaragua’s southern border in the Central American baseball geography. Neither the broadcast nor any AP dispatch noted the Nicaragua angle. We note it here, because that’s what WBN is for.
The McCullough Ejection
Clayton McCullough was ejected in the second inning by first base umpire Cory Blaser after arguing a balk call. It was his second ejection of the season. The balk moved Luis Rengifo to third base, but the Brewers didn’t score. McCullough’s ejections this year have both come in situations where the Marlins were pitching, which tells you something about where the team’s frustration has been living in 2026.
Miami Marlins manager Clayton McCullough (86) is ejected by first base umpire Cory Blaser, right, during the first inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
The International Read
Eury Pérez (?? Dominican Republic) — the starter, the story, the answer. Zero earned runs, seven strikeouts, one walk. Sanoja (?? Venezuela) — the decisive blow as a pinch hitter. Petersen (?? Great Britain) — 1.2 scoreless innings to bridge to the finish. Hicks (?? Canada) — RBI single in the first, double in the seventh, continuing his quiet excellence. Lopez (??) — a single and the run that scored on the first-inning mayhem.
The error column: Hicks threw one away on Hamilton’s stolen base attempt in the sixth. The unearned run scored. The Marlins committed one error total. For a team that had 15 errors in its first 16 games, that’s progress.
Stowers (US) — 2-for-3, the debut double, the lineup impact that changes how pitchers approach the Dominican-Venezuelan core ahead of him. The series ends with a split at 1-3, which is not what the Marlins needed from a four-game homestand. But Sunday’s win is the kind of performance you build on — a command start from Eury, a debut from Stowers, and a Sanoja moment that reminds everyone what the bench looks like when it works.
Milwaukee Brewers catcher Gary Sánchez, left, talks with pitcher Dl Hall (37) during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
The Eighth Inning — loanDepot Holds Its Breath
Michael Petersen got two outs in the eighth before Nardi came in. Two walks loaded the bases. Gary Sánchez — the Dominican catcher who has been a thorn in this staff’s side all series — singled to center. Two runs scored. 5-3. Bases still loaded. William Contreras pinch hitting.
Calvin Faucher replaced Nardi. Contreras lined out to Kyle Stowers in left. Inning over. The crowd exhaled.
Pete Fairbanks in the Ninth
Pete Fairbanks entered with a two-run lead and an ERA of 10.80. loanDepot park has been watching him with the energy of a driver watching a gas gauge on empty.
He threw three consecutive four-seam fastballs to Luis Rengifo — 96.6, 97.3, 95.7 mph. Called strike, foul, called strike. The Brewers challenged. ABS confirmed strike three. One out.
Then cutters and a 97.3 mph four-seamer to Brandon Lockridge — called strike, swinging strike, foul tip. Strikeout. Two outs.
Then Blake Perkins. The switch-hitting center fielder from Litchfield Park, Arizona — hitting .129 on the season, Milwaukee’s last position player off the bench, their last hope to extend the game. Seven pitches. Four-seamer, cutter, four-seamer, slider, four-seamer, four-seamer, four-seamer. Full count. The final pitch: 98.7 mph, high four-seam fastball. Perkins made contact — 99.2 mph exit velocity off the bat, straight into the ground, 9 feet. Negative-16 degree launch angle. A worm-killer. Xavier Edwards fielded it, threw to Connor Norby at first.
Game over. Marlins 5, Brewers 3. Four-game skid over.
Fairbanks threw seven four-seamers in the ninth inning. His fastest was 98.7. For one Sunday, the fastball was back. Whether that holds — that’s the question the next appearance answers. What’s documented today is a clean ninth, a sweep avoided, and a loanDepot park exhale that you could probably hear from the parking garage.
The Standings Going Forward
The Marlins are 10-12 heading into the Cardinals series. They are still in second place in the NL East, though the gap has widened. Atlanta is 13-7. The Cardinals come to Miami at 12-8 or 13-8 depending on Sunday’s Houston result. The road trip that follows — San Francisco, then Los Angeles — is the one that will define whether this team is building toward something or simply breaking even.
The 85 percent of the season that was unwritten last week is still mostly unwritten. But the scoreboard since April 13 reads: 1-6. Wins over the Braves to open the road trip, then six losses. One win Sunday to keep the skid from becoming a catastrophe.
The Cardinals start Monday. The roof status will be checked.
International Player of the Game
?? Eury Pérez — 6 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K. The command question answered, for one Sunday. Zero earned runs. One walk in 84 pitches. The answer was yes — he can be this. The Command Watch continues Wednesday, but today belongs to him.
Honorable Mention
?? Michael Petersen — 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K. The first British-born player in MLB since 2018 bridged the gap between Eury and the finish. The feature on his career path is coming.
Up Next
St. Louis Cardinals (12-8) open a three-game series at loanDepot park Monday. Michael McGreevy (1-1, 2.49 ERA) vs. Max Meyer (1-0, 4.12 ERA). First pitch 6:40 PM ET. TV: Marlins.TV / Cardinals.TV. Radio: WQAM 560 / WAQI 710 (Spanish) / KMOX 1120 AM (Cardinals).
— MT
Miami Files #024 · World Baseball Network · Baseball Without Borders
