The Martín Pérez story continues to be the feel-good story of the summer for the Braves, if not all of baseball.
After pitching in just 56 innings over 11 games in 2025 for the White Sox, after signing a minor-league contract with the Braves in February, and even after being designated for assignment in April, Pérez has arguably become the Braves’ second-best pitcher 4 1/2 months into the season.
The 35-year-old continued to defy expectations with six more scoreless innings Tuesday as part of a 4-0 Braves’ win over the Mets at Truist Park. Pérez’s 18-inning scoreless streak is tied for the third-longest streak in MLB for a starting pitcher.
Pérez last allowed a run July 27 in the third inning of a game against the Mets at Citi Field.
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.
McLean (8-8) allowed just the one run on just the one hit over six innings.
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.
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.
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