Pérez dazzles again as Braves shut out Mets

Pérez last allowed a run July 27 in the third inning of a game against the Mets at Citi Field.

“You got to take advantage of that, you know?” Pérez said of his recent run of success. “When you find your rhythm and then you’re attacking the hitters early, you’re gonna have good games. Always. And you’re gonna miss less.

“And I think today I was attacking, but at the same time my sinker was moving a lot. I start seeing they start cheating a little bit on my sinker, and they give me a chance to use more my changeup and my cutter, especially in the last two innings.”

Tuesday’s appearance saw Pérez shut out the Mets (53-68) for six innings. He worked around four hits — two of which were infield singles — and got two double-play balls.

In his last five appearances, Pérez has allowed just three earned runs in 25 innings, good enough for a 1.08 ERA.

“You’re not sure what you’re gonna get from a guy like that later in his career,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said before Tuesday’s game about the season Pérez has had. “He’s gone way above and beyond what we could have anticipated when he showed up in North Port (Florida). And he’s on a nice little run right now.

“He’s at the top of that list of the guys who have moved the needle for us, who maybe we weren’t anticipating that happening before the season started.”

While Pérez (8-6) was good Tuesday, his counterpart, Mets starter Nolan McLean, was just as tough. McLean had no-hit the Braves through the first four innings before Ozzie Albies changed that leading off the fifth by hitting an 0-2 fastball into the Chop House seats in right center.

Albies’ solo blast gave him 20 home runs for the fifth time in his career and first time since 2023.

That was the only run and only hit McLean (8-8) allowed over six innings. And it was the only run of support the crafty lefty Pérez needed.

He detailed how former Braves great Greg Maddux taught him how to use a sinker in 2012, and how a quote from former Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens about throwing first-pitch strikes has stuck with him through his MLB career.

It has helped that Pérez has avoided any sort of long stint on the injured list in 2026, as well.

“When you’re healthy, you can expect a lot of things,” Pérez said. “Sometimes you go out there and you don’t control when you release the ball. When you’re hitting your spots, and you get good teammates behind you, that they always play hard - like Albies today. He catches, I don’t know how many groundballs, more than 100 miles per hour.

“I keep saying to myself, like, ‘You got this because these guys (are) playing hard and they got your back.’ I wanna do the same when I’m on the mound. I gotta go out there, I gotta do my stuff because at some point we’re gonna score some runs and we’re gonna win a lot of games.”

The Braves (72-48) added a much-needed insurance run in the seventh against reliever Jefry Yan. Matt Olson drew a leadoff walk, went to second on a wild pitch, third on Michael Harris II groundout to first and scored on Mauricio Dubón’s sacrifice fly to center field.

Olson doubled the lead with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, smashing a 2-1 slider from Chayce McDermott 423 feet out to right. It was Olson’s 35th homer, giving him four seasons of at least 35 home runs for his career.

The Braves’ first baseman was happy to make sure Pérez got another tally in the win column.

“He’s great. It’d be easy for somebody in his shoes, a veteran - earlier in the year he was kind of bouncing bullpen and starter and, man, he’s had a helluva year,” Olson said. “He brings some good energy in here, too. He’s fun, keeps it light. Good baseball mind, somebody can talk the game to, but loves to have some fun. And that fits right in with us.”

In relief of Pérez, Didier Fuentes, Dylan Lee and Raisel Iglesias, respectively, closed out the shutout, the Braves’ seventh of the season.

The Braves improved to 61-2 this season when leading after eight innings.