Marlins pull Pérez amid perfect game through 7 innings

The Miami Marlins pulled Eury Pérez from Sunday's start while the right-hander was pitching a perfect game through seven innings in an eventual 9-8 win over the Athletics.

"I totally get it," Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said of making the difficult decision to pull his pitcher.

"There was a part of my heartstrings pulling at his opportunity to keep on going, but I have to think about Eury and our organization, our team and what's best moving forward to give us a chance to continue to win games."

Pérez, who was making his third start since coming of the injured list, recorded eight strikeouts on 92 pitches.

"Going into this game, 90-plus was the pitch count but … us looking to play beyond the regular season, Eury's going to be an important part of that," McCullough said. "He had it really going today."

Athletics fans voiced their displeasure with the decision to yank Pérez amid his bid for history.

Lake Bachar replaced Pérez in the eighth with the Marlins up 8-0. The right-hander proceeded to immediately walk Lawrence Butler to end the combined perfect game before allowing a bloop single to Joshua Kuroda-Grauer, ending the no-hit bid. The Athletics scored five in that frame and three in the ninth to make things interesting.

"It's something that doesn't feel good," Pérez said of coming out of the game. "But they don't know the inside information. We had a plan of 90 pitches. I'm very proud of my team and very proud of my manager. Mostly the communication that we have."

The Marlins have never had a perfect game. There have been only 24 in MLB history.

"I'm a fan of baseball, too, and I know there's a history of this game," McCullough said. "It wasn't lost on me."

Despite the tense finish, Miami swept the three-game series to improve to 23-8 since June 1.