MIAMI, FL—With trade speculation no longer a factor, the Miami Marlins were hopeful that Sandy Alcantara would loosen up. While the veteran starter matched a season-high with seven innings pitched, it was one bad inning that ultimately decided the game. The Marlins dropped their series opener to the Houston Astros by a final score of 8-2, with Alcantara suffering his 10th loss.
Jeremy Peña led off the fourth inning with a double and five of the next six Astros recorded hits of their own. Peña was driven in by former Marlin Jesús Sánchez, giving the Astros the lead. Jose Altuve smacked a base hit and Carlos Correa drove Sánchez in on an RBI single before Christian Walker grounded into a force out, which drove in Altuve for a third run. Victor Caratini laced a base hit, then Yainer DÃaz smacked a double to score both Walker and Caratini, making it 5-0.
“Couple hard contact, couple soft contact balls and it seems like they came out ready for all the breaking balls that I was throwing,” Alcantara said postgame. “They were very aggressive since the first inning.”
The Astros lineup didn’t add on any more runs until the seventh inning when the Marlins righty allowed an RBI double to Jeremy Peña. Alcantara went on to go seven innings, allowing six runs on nine hits, one walk and struck out five. Alcantara prevented Houston from hitting any home runs, but he did allow 12 hard-hit balls.
Well known for inducing ground balls, Alcantara only had a 40% ground ball rate on the night. He generated 11 swings-and-misses. His curveball continues to be inconsistent, this time being responsible for four Astros hits.
“It’s an aggressive offense,” said Marlins manager Clayton McCullough following the game. “They strung some hits together and he really got the sinker going after that. He was in the strike zone and they were aggressive..”
On the flip side, Astros starter Jason Alexander, who was making his fourth start of the season, went six shutout innings, allowing three hits, one walk and struck out six to out-duel the 2022 Cy Young Award winner.
“He sped us up. The changeup was a really good pitch for him. Struck with his sweeper early in the count, had his sink and we had a tough time getting the ball off the ground,” said McCullough. “Guys just seemed like they were caught in between some and he really did have a good feel for his changeup tonight. Was able to locate it at the bottom of the zone and then get it to play down below. He threw a really nice game and we just didn’t adjust to things well enough.”
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For the first time since 2006 (Joe Borchard and Wes Helms), Marlins pinch-hitters had back-to-back home runs. Javier Sanoja and Derek Hill both went yard in the seventh inning. Sanoja hit his fourth of the season, while Hill, who was reinstated off the injured list prior to Monday’s game, hit his third. The Marlins still trailed, 6-2.
“We were down there, we’re chasing and they have a very lefty-heavy bullpen. Looking at this series, there were actually going to be some times where we have some guys that aren’t starting there, that come off the bench and we feel really good versus left and to try to take a shot there to create something,” said McCullough. “To tell you that I thought they were going to go back-to-back, I can’t say that, but thinking they’d go up there and at least try to start an inning and try to get some people on base and mount a rally and chip away into the deficit as much as we could.”
In the top of the eighth inning, with a runner on first and one out, Yainer DÃaz grounded out to first baseman Eric Wagaman who then fired off to shortstop Otto Lopez to make the tag for an inning-ending double play, but Lopez assumed there would still be a force out at second. The inning continued. Mauricio Dubón drove Caratini in on an RBI double and Cam Smith drove in Dubón on an RBI double, making it an 8-2 game.
“[Lopez is] racing over, trying to get to the base and I think with just how quickly it happened and Wags turning through, just lost track of if Wags touched (first base) or not. As a group there, you’re trying as best as we can to help each other out, communicating there and we just didn’t.”
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In the bottom of the eighth inning, with AgustÃn RamÃrez at first and no outs, Liam Hicks knocked in a base hit. RamÃrez tried to go from first to third, but halfway to third base, he stopped and decided to go back to second. It was too late and he was tagged out for the first out of the inning. The Marlins did not score for the remainder of the game.
“We’ve touted and preached our aggressiveness and wanting to be aggressive on the bases and that’s one way on the scoreboard,” McCullough said. “Being down, we’re just at a point in the game where outs are at a premium. We’re chasing a pretty large deficit at that point. You’re looking at that—how important is that 90 feet in comparison to what we need right now at this moment is to try to scratch and claw back? They’re all unfortunate when they happen and we’ll talk about it, learn from it, move on to the next thing.”
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With the loss, the Marlins are back to one game below .500 and 6.5 games back of the final National League Wild Card spot. Cal Quantrill will take the mound for the Marlins on Tuesday. The Astros will go with an opener. First pitch is at 6:40 pm.