Miami Marlins right-hander Eury Pérez was in the midst of the game of his life on Sunday against the Oakland Athletics. Pérez posted a perfect game through seven innings striking out eight through the initial 21 outs of the game.
However, as Pérez was preparing the enter the eighth inning of play manager Clayton McCullough opted to call in lefty Lake Bachar to take over for Pérez despite only throwing 92 pitches on the day. Fans unleashed their feelings seeing Bachar enter the game with a group chant of “Shame” throughout the stadium.
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To make matters worse, Bachar immediately squandered the perfect game walking the first batter then allowing a single and a run before the bullpen even recorded an out.
A’s Fans Shame Chant.
After Eury Pérez is removed with a Perfect Game thru 7.
And just like that, the perfect game is gone. pic.twitter.com/zYtwEJtDJi
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) July 5, 2026
The tumble wouldn’t end there for the Marlins as Bachar proceeded to allow five runs without recording a single out during his time on the mound.
Following the game, McCullough provided his excuse for not allowing Pérez to try and finish out the game.
“Going into this game, 90 plus a batter was a pitch count that I felt comfortable with him coming back off the time on the IL and us looking to play beyond the season,” McCullough said according to CBS Sports. “Eury’s gonna be an important part of that. Yeah, he had it really going today and I totally get it. There was a part of my heartstrings pulling at his opportunity to keep going but I have to think about Eury, one, and our organization, our team, and what’s best moving forward and giving us a chance to win games. I made a calculated decision of where he was with his pitch count.”
The Marlins ultimately held on securing a 9-8 victory over the Athletics.
Patrick Dowd is a contributor for Ball Exclusives. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
