Third base umpire Jim Wolf raised his fist to the roaring approval of 28,446 fans at Chase Field as a distraught Dane Myers looked up to the retractable roof in disbelief. A gutsy, perhaps over-aggressive steal of third with one out in the ninth and clutch rookie Heriberto Hernandez at the plate looked like, by all intents and purposes, the decision that would not only doom the Marlins on Saturday against the Diamondbacks. Their spirited rally was going to come up short, putting an end to their season-long five-game win streak.
With a challenge in his back pocket and one out standing in the way of defeat, it was a no-brainer for manager Clayton McCullough to put it to use just in case Myers somehow snuck his hand in there before Eugenio Suárez applied the tag.
After a two-minute review, Miami’s wish was miraculously granted. Replay showed the athletic, third-year outfielder pull off an unbelievable head-first slide, just barely sneaking his right hand to the corner of the bag, evading Suárez’s glove.
If his offense’s late resurgence wasn’t already enough, Myers’ maneuver and Hernandez’s subsequent sacrifice fly shifted every ounce of momentum to the first base dugout. After Agustín Ramírez’s go-ahead single in the top of the tenth, followed by Anthony Bender’s scoreless inning in the latter half of the frame, the Marlins had come all the way back to win their sixth consecutive game and third consecutive series in exhilarating all-around fashion, 8-7.
The late push came on the heels of an otherwise slow day at the office for Miami’s bats. Outside of an opening frame that saw the first five batters of the game reach base, they collected a scant three hits between innings two and seven.
Hernandez, pinch-hitting for Jesús Sánchez, legged out an infield single in the top of the eighth, setting the stage for Otto Lopez. Lopez’s prior at-bat would’ve ended with him trotting around the bases in 17 ballparks, but not Chase Field, as a stung fly ball to the deepest part of the park in center was a can of corn for Alek Thomas.
This time, Miami’s shortstop pummeled a Jalen Beeks fastball to the seats in right-center, inching his club closer on his second homer in as many days. The long ball additionally extended Lopez’s hit streak to nine games.
Ramírez followed with a frozen-rope double three pitches later before the always-clutch Liam Hicks cut the deficit to one on a seeing-eye single through the shift.
On the day, McCullough’s offense recorded double-digit hits for the sixth game in a row, lining up with the streak of victories. Every player in the Marlins lineup recorded a knock, omitting Connor Norby.
Lost in the fray of the late innings was the disappointing outing from Sandy Alcantara, whose run of allowing three runs or less in four consecutive starts met its end.
Arizona leadoff man Geraldo Perdomo shooting an Alcantara sinker to the opposite-field gap on the third pitch he saw ended up being foreshadowing for the rest of his outing. His fellow Diamondbacks were aggressive all afternoon, something they’ve garnered a reputation for in the past handful of seasons.
Despite letting Perdomo cross early, Alcantara worked back-to-back clean innings before a disastrous fourth. On just twelve pitches, Sandy forfeited five hits and five runs, with Ketel Marte delivering the big swing on a lead-taking opposite-field blast.
Alcantara eventually escaped and persevered through six innings, but finished with a final line not as encouraging as his preceding outings in June.
Miami’s ace continues to struggle with missing bats—recording six whiffs on 53 swings—and putting guys away when ahead in counts.
Following another up-and-down start, Alcantara’s ERA climbs back to 6.98, which would rank last in MLB if he had pitched enough innings to qualify. With the trade deadline just over a month away, barring an unexpected spike in performance, all signs point to Alcantara not commanding a haul in return like once expected in spring training.
Valente Bellozo delivered two scoreless innings trailing Alcantara in the seventh and eighth before Bender entered in high-leverage.
Bender, who had not completed two innings in a game since his rookie year in 2021, got the vote of confidence from McCullough to go back out after a 1-2-3 ninth against the heart of Arizona’s lineup. The 30-year-old didn’t disappoint, working another perfect frame, extending his scoreless innings streak to 5 ⅔.
With their sights set on their second consecutive sweep, the Marlins send out Cal Quantrill to make his 16th start of 2025 in Sunday’s series finale at 4:10. Getting the nod for Arizona is Eduardo Rodriguez, owner of a 5.40 ERA now three months into his second season in the desert.