Pérez Extends Scoreless Streak, Another Statement for Braves Rotation

The Atlanta Braves get another scoreless night from Martín Pérez, and the strong run from the starting rotation continues

Pérez has the third-longest scoreless streak by a starting pitcher in the majors | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Martín Pérez cruised to another scoreless outing, as the Atlanta Braves beat the New York Mets, 4-0, to even the series.

He tossed six scoreless innings, extending his scoreless streak to 18 innings.

"When you find your rythem, and you attack hitters early, you're going to have good games - always." Pérez said after his start on Tuesday. "And you going to miss less, and I think today, I was attacking, but at the same time, my sinker was moving a lot."

He added that the way his sinker has been moving has allowed him to better utilize his changeup. These two pitches are very similar and provide him a chance to be deceptive with the change in speeds, making him that much more effective.

His streak is the third-longest in the major leagues by a starting pitcher. Only Tampa Bay Rays starter Drew Rasmussen and Miami Marlins starter Sandy Alcantara are ahead of him. Both are tied with 20 innings pitched.

Pérez has given the Braves three consecutive scoreless outings, each of which they have won. Weather has tried to hold him back a couple of times, but it's yet to be fully successful.

In an era of emphasis on missed bats and velocity, the man with the 89 mph sinker succeeds by pitching to contact and putting faith in the defense behind him.

Manager Walt Weiss has highlighted Pérez has an unsung hero for these efforts, and he did so again on Tuesday.

"What a great addition our club," he said Tuesday night. "We talked about it a lot. I know. But he just keeps going out there and performing - picking us up. Really cool to see a guy like Martín rewarded. When the good ones get rewarded by the game, and it takes a lot of hard work and everthing else he puts into it, but he's been huge for us."

A notable trend from the rotation continued on Tuesday. Even with the seven earned runs allowed by Bryce Elder on Monday, Braves starters have a combined 2.08 ERA and a combined 1.02 WHIP in the month of August.

Since the trade deadline, they have gotten at least six innings from their starters all but twice. One of them was when Pérez had his outing cut short due to weather last week. The other was Monday night when Elder made it just five innings.

Whatever chip on their shoulder they have carried with them since the deadline, it's continuing to fuel the job.

Add us as a preferred source on Google