MIAMI — Sandy Alcantara got to leave the mound Friday night knowing he was at the apex of what he’s capable of.
It’s a feeling he didn’t have after last year’s Opening Day.
The 2022 Cy Young winner pitched well to start last season against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He allowed no hits and walked two through four innings that afternoon, but faltered in the fifth, giving up two runs on two walks and two hits before being pulled in the 5-4 win. It was Alcantara’s first start since undergoing Tommy John surgery after the 2023 season.
But Friday was different.
Alcantara allowed zero earned runs in seven innings against the Colorado Rockies and retired nine of his last ten batters faced. Unlike his Opening Day start last year, he was able to finish his final frame with relative ease, coming off the field to a standing ovation from the 32,459 in attendance at loanDepot park.
“I think I prepared myself very good in the past week for today,” Alcantara said. “I think the hard work I put in the last bullpen I threw was amazing, and today was a great result to me.”
Alcantara was perfect in his first frame of work. Even when he allowed a leadoff single to Ezequiel Tovar to start the second, it was negated by a soft ground ball off the bat of TJ Rumfield to shortstop Otto Lopez that turned into a double play.
Milestone watch:
Sandy Alcantara has induced 99 ground ball double plays in his career pic.twitter.com/ThvjXHLuGE
— Fish On First (@FishOnFirst) March 27, 2026
It was those sinker-induced ground balls that made Alcantara so successful prior to his surgery. His 52.9% ground ball rate Friday is on par with some of his best seasons. In his Cy Young campaign, his ground ball rate was 53.4%.
Even when Alcantara ran into trouble in the fourth, it wasn’t because he was getting hit hard, which sank him many times last year. The Rockies loaded the bases with a single, a fielding error by third baseman Javier Sanoja, and a walk.
Alcantara added a sweeper this offseason, expanding his already-loaded arsenal to six pitches. He threw it 12 times Friday, not allowing a hit on that pitch. He wasn’t originally sure how he’d feel about throwing it at this point, but changed his mind during his warmup.
“I thought today it’s not going to be good for me, throwing the sweeper. But I thought the confidence I had warming out in the bullpen was good. And I told my pitching coach (Daniel Moskos) that we gotta be aggressive.”
Oh him? Yeah, he’s goated 👇 pic.twitter.com/eeaAWY3Zx8
— Miami Marlins (@Marlins) March 28, 2026
Relievers Andrew Nardi, Anthony Bender, and Pete Fairbanks combined to pitch two scoreless innings to lock down the 2-1 win.
It was hopefully an omen of a successful season for Alcantara, who struggled in the first half of 2025 (7.22 ERA) before showing flashes of his old self in the latter half (3.33 ERA).
Friday was the second time that a Marlins pitcher allowed zero earned runs over seven or more innings in an Opening Day start, joining Kevin Brown in 1997.