Marlins drop game one in Anaheim, 7-4

[Kevin Barral]

A strong offensive night from the Marlins wasn't enough as they fell to the Angels in game one of a three-game set.

 

On a night the Marlins offense had 14 hits and Eric Wagaman had a big homecoming game, starter Sandy Alcantara struggled, allowing six runs as the Fish dropped game one against the Los Angeles Angels by a final score of 7-4.

Wagaman, who made his Major League debut last season with the Angels, was DFA'd this past offseason by them and elected Minor League free agency. He was signed to a split deal with the Marlins and broke camp with the big league roster. After going hitless in his first couple games to begin the season, Wagaman later found himself on a 12-game hit streak.

Going into Friday's homecoming game, Wagaman had slashed .242/.293/.373/.666 with three home runs, 12 RBI and an 81 OPS+. After he flew out in his first at-bat of the game, Wagaman took Angels starter Yusei Kikuchi deep for his fourth home run of the season and put the Fish on the board despite trailing, 6-1.

In the top of the eighth inning with one out and two runners in scoring position, trailing 6-2, Wagaman smacked an RBI single to drive in both runs and make it a two-run deficit. He finished the night going 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBI. That was Wagaman's fourth three-hit game of the season.

 

 

Amongst the Marlins' 14-hit day, Kyle Stowers had a three-hit day, extending his hit streak to ten games. He drove in the game's second run off of former Marlin Shaun Anderson in the top of the seventh inning. That marked Stowers' fourth three-hit game of the season.

Five Marlins went on to have a multi-hit game. One of those five Marlins was rookie Agustin Ramirez, who led off for the first time in his professional career. He went two-for-five with a run scored. 

Alcantara, who had seen a recent trend of the final line no entirely reflecting his performance on the mound, came to an end on Friday night as he went 5 1/3 innings, allowing six runs (five earned) on five hits, two walks and one home run. He also struck out six. Alcantara's fastball averaged 97.0 mph and topped out at 98.6 mph.

In the bottom of the second inning, Alcantara surrendered a home run to outfielder Taylor Ward, his 15th of the season making it a 1-0 Halos lead. In the bottom of the fourth, Alcantara surrendered a sac fly to Ward and an RBI double to Angels young catcher Logan O'Hoppe, making it a 3-0 lead.

Everything fell apart for Alcantara in the sixth inning. After surrendering a walk to Nolan Schanuel, Cuban third baseman Yoan Moncada knocked in a double, moving the Florida Atlantic product to third. Alcantara walked the aforementioned Ward to load the bases.

Former Marlin Jorge Soler brought the runner at third in on a catchers interference and Alcantara hit longtime NL East rival Travis d'Arnaud with a pitch to drive in the sixth run of the game. That wound up being the Dominican's final pitch. 

When the Marlins brought in Lake Bachar, the right-hander left a hanging slider in the middle of the zone to Soler. who belted his seventh home run of the campaign, giving the Angels a 7-4 lead.

 

Alcantara is now 2-7 on the season with a 8.04 ERA and his next start is projected to be in the series-finale against the San Diego Padres. With the loss, the Marlins are now 19-30 on the season and will go with Cal Qauntrill, who is coming off one of his best starts of the season. First pitch is at 10:07 pm ET. 

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[MarlinFaninGA]

Maybe Sandy is trying to keep from being traded. That's why he's blowing it. Might be a good idea, I don't know. It was a good game, the Fish don't give up!

[Felix Trelles]

Here is an idea for an article on Alcantara.  It only requires using simple arithmetic:

- Find the Marlins average (wins/total) for games where Alcantara did NOT play

- Find the same average for games where he played.

- Compare the two numbers.

After 50 games we have enough data to reach a conclusion on whether this pitcher can continue to hurt the Marlins performance.

If contractual rules force the manager to keep him in the rotation, let me suggest that he should play no more than 2 innings.

This 2025 team is the best in recent years, don't let one pitcher ruin the season!