Martin Perez didn't make it past the fifth inning in his season debut against the Houston Astros, and he allowed three runs last week. It wasn't a stellar performance, but it was good enough for his first outing in the big leagues in 14 months following Tommy John surgery.
On Wednesday afternoon in Colorado, a place that can wreak havoc on pitchers' ERAs, Perez turned in a quality start in his second outing of the season, earning a no-decision thanks to Tanner Scheppers' blowing up in the eighth inning.
Perez worked six innings, retiring the last seven hitters he faced to earn his first two perfect innings of the season. He allowed four runs, but only three of them were earned, hence the quality start qualification.
For not pitching in the bigs for more than a year, you have to be really encouraged by both of Perez's outings so far, as he did enough to keep his team in each game. He's only going to get better as his stuff returns fully and he settles in and gets more comfortable.
