Alcantara unable to stop bleeding, Marlins drop ninth straight

HOUSTON, TX - Miami Marlins starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara summed it up pretty well when he spoke to the media following the team's ninth straight loss. "We've been like a way different than the first half." The Marlins, who played their closest game of the three-game set against the Houston Astros, tied at two going into the bottom of the eighth inning, fell victims to the best hitter in baseball, falling by a final score of 5-2.

If there was one player on the Marlins roster that could come out and stop the bleeding, it would be their longtime ace. He was well on his way to doing that, completing seven innings of work and limiting the Houston Astros to just two runs. He received some run support thanks to back-to-back RBI from Javier Sanoja (double) and Joe Mack (single), tying the game at two.

Alcantara, lauded for his ability to pitch deep into games with a high pitch count, came out for the bottom of the eighth inning with 97 pitches already thrown. The Marlins were counting on Alcantara to be the one to snap this streak. A case could've been made that maybe Alcantara shouldn't have come out with the pending off-day on Thursday, giving the opportunity to dig into your higher leverage arms, but the decision to have "El Caballo" go out there was the one Clayton McCullough and his staff made.

The bottom of the eighth inning had Alcantara lined up to face the top of the Astros order: Jeremy Peña, Yordan Alvarez and Isaac Paredes.

Peña started the inning with a base hit, setting the stage for Yordan Alvarez. Alcantara described Alvarez as "the best hitter in baseball right now," and rightfully so. It was the Marlins best pitcher in that moment against the Astros best hitter. On the third pitch of the at-bat, a fastball towards the bottom of the zone, Alvarez got a piece of it, taking Alcantara 394-feet the opposite way for a two-run shot, giving the Astros a 4-2 lead. Isaac Paredes followed it up with a home run of this own, extending the lead, 5-2.

"(Alvarez) covers a lot of different pitches and both sides of the plate," McCullough said. "He's having an All-Star worthy season, MVP-type season, and he put some really good swings on balls. He got us."

Alcantara finished the night entering the eighth, but unable to record an out. He surrendered five runs on nine hits, walked one, and struck out three. Calvin Faucher entered the game for Alcantara, striking out two and generating a pop fly.

Anytime that your lineup does not combine for more than 10 strikeouts in the game, it is already a better night than Miami had had recently. On Wednesday night, the Marlins struck out six times, but were able to do some damage on Astros starter Peter Lambert, knocking in two runs on six hits. It would be the Astros bullpen that shut down the Marlins, allowing one hit between three relievers.

"I thought we had a lot of really good at bats," McCullough said. "We created some opportunities. Thought we hit some balls hard, and I think we just kind of keep plugging along with that. The at-bat quality as a whole was good tonight."

With the loss, the Marlins drop to 52-51, 1.5 games out of the third National League Wild Card spot. In a competitive National League, the Arizona Diamondbacks have won back-to-back games, giving them sole possession of the third WC while both the St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates are half a game back. The Marlins and Washington Nationals both have the same record.

"I think we gotta put things together and find a way to put ourselves in that situation that we were in the first half," Alcantara said. "This is baseball, someday you win 20 and someday you lose 25. We gotta keep fighting together.”

The Marlins will go back to Miami to begin a two-team, six-game homestand, with what feels like a last sliver of hope to bounce back from this season-collapsing stretch. The San Diego Padres and Philadelphia Phillies are coming to town. First pitch on Friday is at 7:10 pm EST with a starter yet to be announced.