Vintage Sandy Alcantara shows up in Marlins one-run win

[Kevin Barral]

It is fair to say that Sandy Alcantara is trending in the right direction. After throwing six strong and efficient innings against the Colorado Rockies, he kept that momentum going against the Pittsburgh Pirates with his first scoreless start of the season. Alcantara's performance was crucial to the Miami Marlins' 3-2 victory.

Alcantara again completed six innings, this time allowing three hits, one walk and striking out six. This came while facing many of the same Pirates hitters who combined to score 10 runs the night before.

"Starting to get better day by day, week by week," Alcantara told the media following his outing. "I feel good the way that I have been throwing."

Alcantara's curveball was his most-used pitch. It generated two whiffs, including a swinging strikeout of Andrew McCutchen for his sixth and final strikeout of the night. His curveball usage was also higher than normal during his previous start.

"With some lefties in the lineup, throw the spin in there and between him, Nick (Fortes) and our pitching crew, putting a game plan they think is best fitted for a particular lineup," said manager Clayton McCullough following the game. "It's great that Sandy now is continuing to gain the confidence to be able to utilize his arsenal in whatever way best maximizes it for that particular day and hitters that he's facing."

For Alcantara, it was similar to the strategy that he had against the Rockies: "Throwing breaking balls for strikes and surprise hitters with the heater."

Alcantara's four-seam fastball averaged 97.6 mph and topped out at 99.2 mph. He generated one whiff on the pitch, but it was crucial in getting ahead of the count, using it more to set up his secondary stuff. He posted a first-pitch strike rate of 73%. He retired the last ten hitters in order to finish his outing.

"Complete outing tonight from him in 85 pitches," said McCullough. "I think in some of the swings the guys took, it shows the quality of the stuff while also relentlessly pounding the strike zone...I thought this was even better than the one he just had against Colorado, just from an overall execution standpoint."

With a relatively low pitch count, McCullough considered letting Alcantara throw the seventh inning, which in 2025 has been uncharted territory for him. Similar to his last start against the Rockies, McCullough ultimately decided that he wanted the veteran right-hander "leaving another one with a very good taste in his mouth."

Nick Fortes, who had been struggling ever since coming off the injured list, hit his second home run of the season in the top of the third off Pirates starter Mitch Keller. The ball left the bat at 104.2 mph and went 397 feet to left field. It gave the Fish an early 2-0 lead. Eric Wagaman punched in the Marlins' third and final run of the game on an RBI single, driving in Otto Lopez.

"Was really just trying to stay short, especially with two strikes," said Nick Fortes following the game. "Not trying to do too much honestly. Try to move it, put the ball in play and thankfully, I caught it out in front and elevated it."

Following Alcantara's exit, the Marlins turned the ball to Ronny Henriquez, who surrendered two solo homers. The first was to struggling third baseman Ke'Bryan Hayes, which made it a 3-1 game. After securing the first out of the inning, Oneil Cruz hit a 416- foot tank, cutting the lead to just one run.

Despite the Pirates making it interesting in the bottom of the ninth inning against Calvin Faucher, he was able to get out of it, striking out Hayes swinging to give the Marlins their 25th win of the season.

The rubber match on Wednesday will begin at 12:35 pm with Cal Quantrill taking the mound.

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