MIA 2, BAL 5: Despite Alcantara's quality start, Marlins lose

After a historic first half for the Miami Marlins, they looked to get the second half going on a high note, but the Marlins offense struggled for the majority of the night on Friday. Sandy Alcantara had a quality start, but gave up home runs to Cedric Mullins and Adam Frazier as the Baltimore Orioles won game one of the three-game set. Final Score: 5-2.

Although Sandy gave up three runs, the Marlins ace struck out five and only allowed one walk. The issue was his pitch placement and high pitch count per hitter. Sandy had a 21-pitch first inning followed by an 18-pitch second inning. The Orioles are an overall patient ball club that works high counts, and that is exactly what happened here.

The first run of the ballgame came in on an Adam Frazier RBI single which drove in Cedric Mullins and gave the Orioles an early 1-0 lead.

That same part of the lineup would do more damage against Sandy in the bottom of the fourth inning. The first home run was hit by Mullins. Sandy threw a fastball down the middle that he took 382 feet deep to right field for Baltimore's second run. That was Mullins' ninth homer of the season. The second solo home run came from Frazier. On a 1-0 count, Sandy threw a 97.7 mile-per-hour sinker that also caught too much of the plate. Frazier hit a no-doubter to right-center field and extended the Orioles lead, 3-1. Frazier's 11th home run of the season left the bat at 101.9 MPH and went 413 feet.

Otherwise, Sandy pitched fairly well to contain an explosive offense on the road. His next scheduled start is set to be against the final game of the three-game set against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Miami only scored once while Sandy was on the mound. That's because Dean Kremer was lights out, striking out eight, only walking two, and giving up one run. The only run Kremer gave up was a bases-loaded RBI single to Bryan De La Cruz, which drove in Joey Wendle.

When it came to pitch mix and usage, it was his usual fastball/cutter combo. Kremer generated 16 swings-and-misses. He out-dueled Alcantara.

Called up from Triple-A Jacksonville last week, left-hander Robert Garcia entered in the seventh inning to make his major league debut. Garcia allowed a walk, lineout and single during his brief appearance and didn't surrender any runs.

Late in the game, the Orioles went with All-Star flame-thrower Yennier Cano to see if he could shut down the eighth inning, but Jorge Soler had plans of his own and homered off the Cuban reliever. Soler's 24th homer left the bat at 106.5 MPH and traveled 406 feet to left field. It's a rare sight for hitters to go deep to that part of Camden Yards ever since the fence was moved back last year. Orioles still led, 3-2.

All hope went away for the Fish in the bottom of the eighth inning when Frazier crushed a two-run home run. Bryan Hoeing, who was pitching in relief for Miami, threw a sinker right down the middle. This was Frazier's second home run of the night and made the score 5-2.

In the ninth inning, the Orioles went with their second All-Star reliever (and former Marlins prospect) Felix Bautista to close it out. He struck out both Jean Segura and Joey Wendle, and then pinch-hitter Yuli Gurriel flew out to end the game.

Miami now has a 53-40 record, still holding onto the top spot in the NL Wild Card race. On Saturday, Braxton Garrett will take the mound for Miami as Kyle Gibson will go for the Orioles. Game two of the three-game set is scheduled to begin at 7:05 pm.