Bullpen meltdown spoils brilliant outing by Perez

Eury Perez set a career high with 10 strikeouts over six shutout innings, but the Miami Marlins lost 3-1 to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday in the first game of a doubleheader at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers (75-47) scored three runs in the eighth inning against David Robertson to take the lead for good. Austin Barnes tied the game at 1-1 on a squeeze bunt with runners on the corners that scored James Outman from third base. Mookie Betts followed with a goahead, two-run single on the next at-bat.

It spoiled a stellar outing from Perez, who got his career-best 10th strikeout with his 90th and final pitch, getting the Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman to swing and miss on an elevated 97.5 mph four-seam fastball.

It was a needed bounceback performance for Perez, Miami’s 20-year-old rookie righthanded pitcher who had allowed eight runs over

8 2⁄3 innings in his past two starts entering Saturday after being called back up to the MLB roster earlier this month. Before that, Perez had pitched to a 2.36 ERA over 53 1⁄3 innings in 11 starts before being sent down to the minor leagues in early July to monitor his workload.

Perez held the Dodgers to just two hits, did not walk a batter and struck out half of the 20 batters he faced. Los Angeles batters whiffed on 22 of

Eury Perez their 47 swings against Perez.

The Marlins (64-60) scored their only run on a Bryan De La Cruz fourthinning double that scored Jake Burger, who singled one at-bat earlier.

The Marlins and Dodgers played twice on Saturday due to the expected impact of Hurricane Hilary on southern California on Sunday. MLB also moved games originally scheduled to be played Sunday at the Padres and Angels to split doubleheaders on Saturday.

The Marlins won the first game of the series against the Dodgers 11-3 on Friday behind five home runs from Jorge

Soler (two), Burger, Jacob Stallings and Jazz Chisholm Jr. and six strong innings from Sandy Alcantara. It was the first time the Marlins had hit five home runs in a game since 2012.

SATURDAY’S GAMES

Red Sox 8, Yankees 1: Kutter Crawford pitched six outstanding innings while Luis Urias hit a grand slam and Connor Wong hit a two-run homer off ace Gerrit Cole as visiting Boston routed struggling New York.

The Red Sox beat the Yankees for the sixth straight time and lead the season series 7-1 thanks to Crawford’s stellar outing and the unlikely offense from their eighth- and ninth-place hitters.

Crawford (6-6) allowed five baserunners and nohit the Yankees for 5 1⁄3 innings until Aaron Judge homered for the second straight game. The righthander struck out five, walked two and ended his outing by fanning Giancarlo

AStanton to cap a 10-pitch at-bat.

Before Judge homered, the closest Crawford came to allowing a hit occurred when Greg Allen reached on a fielding error by first baseman Justin Turner in the third. Allen reached base three times and got New York’s second hit in the seventh.

The Yankees lost a seventh straight game for the first time since Sept. 4-10, 2021.

Cubs 6, Royals 4:

Cody Bellinger homered twice and had four RBI, and Justin Steele allowed two runs over six solid innings in Chicago’s win over visiting Kansas Cit.

Bellinger homered with a man on in the first and added a solo shot, his 20th of the season, in the third for Chicago. The Cubs won their sixth straight started by Steele (14-3), who allowed

Asix hits without a walk, and struck out seven.

The Royals had 10 hits but went 2 for 15 with runners in scoring position.

ELSEWHERE

Blue Jays: Pushing for an American League wildcard spot, Toronto activated All-Star shortstop Bo Bichette from the 10-day injured list. Bichette, 25, landed on the injured list July 31 with right knee patellar tendinitis.

Brewers: Milwaukee activated first baseman Rowdy Tellez from the 10-day injured list. Tellez, 28, was in the lineup as the designated hitter in Saturday’s game at Texas, his first appearance since July 4. Tellez originally went on the IL on July 5 with right forearm inflammation, but on July 15 he injured his left ring finger while shagging fly balls in Cincinnati.

AA