The Marlins rallied against the Mets in Game 2 of a doubleheader. And then, three home runs
It looked like Sandy Alcantara’s post-All-Star break troubles would continue as his first inning against the New York Mets unfolded Monday night in the second game of their doubleheader. Four batters in, the Miami Marlins’ 23-year-old righty had already given up two runs on a pair of hits, a walk and a hit batter.
But Alcantara, asked numerous times this season to be more aggressive and to trust his flamethrowing stuff, rebounded and held a surging Mets team in check only to watch them hit three home runs against Jeff Brigham and the Marlins fall 5-4 at Citi Field. The Marlins (42-69) dropped the first game of the doubleheader 6-2.
J.D. Davis, Michael Conforto and Pete Alonso hit the three seventh-inning home runs to give the Mets (57-56) the lead. All three home runs were on 3-2 counts.
Alcantara allowed just three baserunners in his final four innings on the mound. He erased a walk in the third inning by getting Wilson Ramos to ground into a double play. He struck out the side in the fourth on 15 pitches. He worked around a J.D. Davis leadoff double in the fifth by inducing a pair of popups and a groundout.
It was a needed bounce back performance for Alcantara, who entered Monday with a 7.89 ERA over four starts since playing in the All-Star Game.
However, that first inning — one in which he threw 35 pitches — forced an early exit but not before the Marlins temporarily built a lead.
Harold Ramirez broke up the shutout with an RBI single that scored Brian Anderson, who doubled to lead off the inning. Bryan Holaday tied the game with a solo home run in the fifth. Curtis Granderson then gave the Marlins their first lead of the day with a two-out, two-run double later in the fifth that scored Miguel Rojas and Anderson.
Brigham worked a scoreless sixth inning before imploding in the seventh.
Game 1 recap (6-2 loss)
Isan Diaz belted out a solo home run against reigning National League Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom in the sixth inning for his first MLB hit to highlight an otherwise sluggish game for the Marlins to open this four-game series against the Mets.
Robert Dugger gave up a solo home run to Jeff McNeil on his first pitch in the big leagues, gave up a second home run in the third to Amed Rosario and battled through rough patches in the fourth and fifth innings.
Dugger’s final line: six earned runs allowed on five hits, four walks and a hit batter. He struck out three while throwing 85 total pitches (49 strikes).
This story was originally published August 5, 2019 at 10:45 PM.
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