Perez (7-6) earned the win over Washington on Saturday, allowing one hit and walking two batters while striking out six over seven scoreless innings.
Perez was originally slated to pitch Sunday, but he was moved up a day after Reynaldo Lopez was scratched due to a knee injury he suffered while warming up. The last-minute adjustment didn't phase Perez at all, as he no-hit the Nationals until there were two outs in the seventh inning. The left-hander needed just 78 pitches to complete seven frames in his longest outing of the campaign. With Lopez expected to go on the injured list, per Chad Bishop of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Perez's importance to the rotation becomes even more emphatic. The veteran hurler holds a 3.24 ERA, 1.17 WHIP and 75:39 K:BB over 97.1 innings spanning 21 games (17 starts).