MIAMI, FL—During his drive to the ballpark, Sandy Alcantara knew Tuesday’s start was going to be a good one. Alcantara had previously allowed six earned runs against the Padres, five earned against the Los Angeles Angels and four against the Tampa Bay Rays, but entering his matchup with the Colorado Rockies, “everything was different,” said Alcantara postgame. “I got here and had a different mindset.” 

Instead of keeping to himself as he usually does on start days, Alcantara was talking to his teammates in the clubhouse, playing pop-a-shot and just being more loose and relaxed. It’s safe to say that it worked. Alcantara kept the Marlins in the game with his best overall start of the season, though it wasn’t enough as the Rockies defeated the Marlins by a final score of 3-2. It marked the Rockies first series win in 2025.

Alcantara went six innings, allowing two runs on four hits, one walk and struck out four. It marked his second quality start of the season. He only threw 70 pitches and still has yet to pitch into the seventh inning of a ballgame this year.

Alcantara noted postgame that he did not lobby to go back out there for the seventh and Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said the same thing. He wanted Alcantara to “feel really good about how the entirety of the outing went” without jeopardizing that by leaving him in too long.

“From start to finish tonight, this was just overall the most complete game he’s put together this season,” said McCullough. “The quality of the misses and the quality of the throws tonight were terrific. Really finishing through and was very good. Pitched around a leadoff double one inning and stranded the guy there. Couple unfortunate hits, but for the most part, limited hard contact and getting guys over top of his sinker. His breaking balls were more effective tonight than they have been.”

Alcantara used the sinker 34% of the time and curveball 20% of the time—his average usages of those pitches are 23.8% and 13.5%, respectively. His curveball generated two whiffs and his sinker generated soft contact (average exit velocity of 78.8 mph).

While warming up in the bullpen, Alcantara said his curveball felt the best it has all season. “So I threw a couple and since I just released, I said, ‘Damn, that was great break,’ and yeah, today everything was good.”

The Marlins offense provided him with some early run support. In the bottom of the third inning, Jesús Sánchez drove in the first run of the game on an RBI single. Just two hitters later, Kyle Stowers knocked a base hit up the middle to drive in the second run of the game.

Sánchez is riding a nine-game hit streak and now leads the team with a .363 on base percentage. He is slashing .274/.363/.404/.767 with four home runs and 17 RBI. With the trade deadline coming up and the Marlins falling even farther back of playoff contention, the veteran outfielder is continuing to boost his value.

The Marlins’ lead did not last long. With runners on the corners in the top of the fifth inning, leadoff hitter Jordan Beck smacked a 101.1 mph RBI single to give the Rockies their first run of the game. A sac fly from Thairo Estrada tied the game at two apiece. Colorado stole two bases during that rally. No runners have been caught trying to steal against Alcantara in 2025.

In the top of the eighth inning, catcher Hunter Goodman hit his third home run this series, giving the Rockies a 3-2 lead, which ended up being all they needed to win the game. Goodman leaves Tuesday’s game slashing .277/.325/.477/.802 with ten home runs and 35 RBI. It was the first homer allowed by Anthony Bender since August 10, 2024.

“It’s a tough task for a right-handed hitter to hang in there against Bender and be able to still have enough behind it to barrel it,” said McCullough. “Good swing by him.”

With the loss, the Marlins have now dropped series to the worst teams in both the American League (Chicago White Sox) and the National League (Colorado Rockies). They will try to salvage the series finale on Wednesday as former Rockies starter Cal Quantrill will take the mound. First pitch is at 12:10 pm.

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