MIAMI — Eury Pérez gave up two home runs Saturday afternoon and still looked like the best pitcher on the field.
The 22-year-old right-hander struck out eight, worked seven full innings, and got stronger as the game progressed — finishing with six of his eight strikeouts coming after the Marlins fell behind 3–1. Owen Caissie took care of the rest, delivering a go-ahead single in the eighth that lifted Miami to a 4–3 win over the Colorado Rockies at loanDepot park.
The Marlins are 2–0.
Miami Marlins pitcher Eury Pérez (39) throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies, Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Pérez finds another gear
TJ Rumfield hit a 423-foot solo shot in the second — his first career home run — and Ezequiel Tovar followed with a two-run homer in the fourth that briefly gave Colorado a 3–1 lead. Both were quality swings on pitches that caught too much of the zone. Pérez filed them away and kept pitching.
Colorado Rockies’ Ezequiel Tovar is embraced in the dugout after hitting a two run home run during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
That’s the part worth paying attention to. After the Tovar homer, Pérez retired the Rockies in order in the fifth, struck out the side in the sixth, and worked a clean seventh. He finished with 93 pitches, 59 strikes, one walk, and eight strikeouts — six of them coming in the final three innings. He didn’t tighten. He got better.
For a pitcher whose career was interrupted by Tommy John surgery before it had fully started — Pérez debuted at 20 in May 2023 and is only now getting his first real shot at a full season — the ability to respond within a game matters as much as the raw stuff.
“This is the first chance to go through a full major league season, and it’s like learning how to navigate different experiences within games — but I’m really proud of how he stepped back and he found another gear those last few innings.”
— Clayton McCullough, Marlins manager
Pérez is from Santiago, Dominican Republic. He is 22 years old, stands 6-foot-8, and on Saturday he looked like a pitcher who has learned something about himself.
The #Marlins are 2-0 to start the season.
ICYMI: Clayton McCullough discusses Perez, Caissie in win https://t.co/JGUJULSfbf #MLBFilmRoom via @MLB
— World Baseball Network (@WorldBaseball_) March 29, 2026
Miami Marlins’ Owen Caissie drops his bat after hitting a double during the second inning of a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies, Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Caissie at-bat by at-bat
Owen Caissie went 3-for-4 with the go-ahead RBI. Here’s what actually happened in each trip to the plate.
1st at-bat, 2nd inning (COL 1, MIA 0) — Double: Lorenzen worked him to a full count mixing curveballs and a changeup, then went to an 84.6 mph slider. Caissie stayed back and drove it at 111.7 mph to right field, sending Lopez to third. His second double of the series. He had already tracked Lorenzen’s breaking ball from the opener.
2nd at-bat, 4th inning (COL 3, MIA 1) — Flyout: Lorenzen made the adjustment. He came back hard with elevated fastballs — foul, cutter, fastball — and got Caissie under one at 93.5 mph. Soft fly to center at 74.5 mph. The Rockies had the lead and Lorenzen was pitching like it.
3rd at-bat, 5th inning (Tied 3–3) — Single: Lorenzen was gone. Félix Bernardino came in throwing sinkers and curveballs. Caissie sat on the sinker and put it through the middle at 111.1 mph. Two of his three hits on the day were struck above 111 mph. That’s not a hot streak. That’s contact quality.
4th at-bat, 8th inning (Tied 3–3) — Go-ahead RBI single: Otto Lopez had reached on a single, stolen second, and stood ninety feet away with the game on the line. Caissie worked Jaden Hill to a full count and put a ground ball up the middle at 94.5 mph. Lopez scored standing up. Miami led 4–3.
Three hits, two above 111 mph exit velocity, and a clutch full-count ground ball in the biggest at-bat of the game. Caissie made his MLB debut last August, came to Miami in a January trade, and represented Canada at the 2026 World Baseball Classic just weeks before this series. He is 23 years old and already a factor in this lineup.
Hicks, the bullpen, and how Miami wins games
Liam Hicks drove in three runs. A sacrifice fly in the third tied it at 1–1 after Xavier Edwards reached and Agustín Ramírez singled and stole second. Then in the fifth, with Ramírez aboard again, Hicks put a two-run homer into right field — 384 feet, 100.3 mph off the bat — to erase Colorado’s lead entirely and tie the game at 3. His three RBI push his early-season total to three.
Hicks nearly hurt Miami in the seventh, flying into an inning-ending double play with Ramírez on first and the game still tied. But his fifth-inning swing is the one that kept the Marlins in it long enough for Caissie to finish the job.
Calvin Faucher worked a clean eighth — 12 pitches, 10 strikes, one strikeout — retiring McCarthy, getting Castro to line out, and striking out Tovar. Pete Fairbanks closed with a perfect ninth for his second save in two days. Miami’s bullpen has now thrown three scoreless innings to close consecutive wins. Through two games, this team can finish.
How the game was decided
Pérez held Colorado scoreless through the first inning before Rumfield’s homer put the Rockies up. Miami tied it in the third, Colorado retook the lead on Tovar’s two-run shot in the fourth, and Hicks brought it even again in the fifth. The game stayed 3–3 through the sixth and seventh — including a Hicks double play that stranded Ramírez — before Lopez’s leadoff single in the eighth, a stolen base, and Caissie’s ground ball settled it.
Saturday’s attendance was a mere 10,160, down from the 32,459 who came out for Opening Day. The series finale is Sunday afternoon at loanDepot park, with Max Meyer making his 2026 season debut against Colorado’s José Quintana.
Miami Marlins’ Javier Sanoja holds his Golden Glove Award before a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies, Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Before the game Saturday, shortstop Javier Sanoja was presented with his Gold Glove Award — a reminder that even in a season still two days old, this organization has plenty to build on.
Alcantara Dominates as Marlins Beat Rockies 2–1 on Opening Day in Miami
Featured Image: Javier Sanoja holds his Gold Glove Award alongside manager Clayton McCullough (86) and president of baseball operations Peter Bendix before the Marlins’ 4–3 win over the Colorado Rockies on March 28, 2026, at loanDepot park. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky) | Graphic: World Baseball Network
