Otto Lopez, who leads the majors in batting average, clubbed a two-run homer in the eighth inning, leading the host Miami Marlins to a 4-2 win over the Texas Rangers on Wednesday afternoon.
The Marlins are 16-5 in June, giving them the most wins in the majors this month. They have also won six of their past seven series.
Lopez, who went 2-for-3, is batting .340 as the Marlins defeated Jacob deGrom, a two-time Cy Young Award-winner. He has a .354 average in June.
It was a quality start for deGrom (6-5), who allowed four hits, two walks and two runs in six innings. He struck out eight, with three of them coming against 2025 All-Star Kyle Stowers.
Wyatt Langford and Joc Pederson led Texas’ offense with solo homers.
Miami’s Eury Perez, in his first start back from the injured list, got an impressive no-decision, allowing just three hits, one walk and one run in 4 2/3 innings. Perez, who hadn’t worked since suffering a thigh injury on May 27, was removed due to a pitch count (68) considerations this early in his comeback.
Reliever John King (5-1) pitched one scoreless inning for the win.
Texas opened the scoring on Langford’s solo homer in the fourth. Langford got a low slider from Perez and hammered it 437 feet to center field.
Miami tied the score in the bottom of the fourth as Lopez walked and scored from first on Griffin Conine’s two-out double that gave right fielder Brandon Nimmo an unfavorable short bounce off the wall.
It was a huge hit for Conine, his first hit since April 8, the day before he tore his left hamstring. He was hitless in his first two games back.
The Marlins stretched their lead to 2-1 in the fifth on a rally that started with a single from Owen Caissie and a walk issued to Leo Jimenez, followed by Brian Navarreto’s sacrifice bunt. Xavier Edwards then won a seven-pitch battle against deGrom, lining a 3-2 changeup for an RBI single to score Caissie.
Miami made it 4-1 in the eighth as Navaretto walked, and Lopez jumped on a 1-1 slider from reliever Cole Winn that caught way too much of the plate. That ball was launched 427 feet.
Texas got closer in the ninth as Pederson led off the inning with a homer. But Pete Fairbanks got the next three batters to earn his 12th save of the year. The final out was a 403-foot blast by Nimmo that was caught on the warning track in center.
