After another ‘tentative’ outing, Marlins manager calls on Alcantara to attack on mound
Sandy Alcantara escaped the first jam he faced on Friday night against the Philadelphia Phillies with relative ease.
After loading the bases with the first three batters he faced, the hard-throwing righty struck out Rhys Hoskins with a 94 mph four-seam fastball and forced J.T. Realmuto to ground into a double play.
He wasn’t as fortunate the second time he got into trouble.
The Phillies blitzed Alcantara with six consecutive hits in the third inning, scoring five runs in the process and leading the way for a 9-1 rout of the Marlins. Alacantara lasted just five innings, giving up six earned runs on 11 hits and two walks while striking out six.
“He can’t be tentative and be a No. 1 or a No. 2 [starter],” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said after the game. “If you’re going to be a No. 1 or 2, you’ve got to go get people. I don’t care if it’s the Phillies or the ‘27 Yankees — you’ve got to go get people.”
Alcantara did that in his season debut, attacking the strike zone and working eight scoreless innings against the Colorado Rockies on March 31.
Since then, he’s given up eight earned runs over nine innings in a no-decision against the Braves and the loss against the Phillies on Friday.
“Yeah. I’ve got to work on that part,” Alcantara said through an interpreter. “I think I let the players get adjusted. I have to attack better.”
Catcher Jorge Alfaro added: “It’s just one inning. They score five and get six base hits. It’s just that simple. ... He’s a young guy. It will take time to make him a better pitcher.”
But time is of the essence for this Marlins team, a young group that has lost nine of its last 10 games.
“It’s a mindset quite honestly,” Mattingly said. “We can talk about it, but he has to do it. He’s got the stuff but if you pitch tentative with that stuff, then your stuff’s not that good.”
This story was originally published April 13, 2019 at 12:07 PM.
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