Sandy Alcantara’s gem not enough as Miami Marlins shut out by Atlanta Braves
It happened again.
Sandy Alcantara dominates on the mound. The offense falls flat. The Miami Marlins lose.
The latest occurrence of this trio of events: A 2-0 loss to the Atlanta Braves at loanDepot park on Tuesday that drops the Marlins to 51-69 and moves the Braves to 64-56 on the season.
Alcantara held the Braves to just one run over eight innings, allowing just five hits and a walk while striking out seven batters. He threw 105 pitches, 77 of which went for strikes.
The 25-year-old righty and ace of the Marlins’ rotation induced a single-game career-high 22 swings and misses, including 12 with his slider.
“Sandy was electric out of the gate,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “His stuff was good.”
But Jorge Soler’s two-out RBI single to right in the eighth scored Abraham Almonte, who walked with one out, stole second and reached third on a wild pitch. Austin Riley gave the Braves an insurance run with a solo home run against Anthony Bender in the ninth.
It was Alcantara’s third gem of a pitching performance in four starts this month. He also has a pair of starts with seven shutout innings against the New York Yankees on Aug. 1 and San Diego Padres on Aug. 11. A 3 2/3-inning, 10-run shelling against the Colorado Rockies on Aug. 6 is the lone exception.
Furthermore, Tuesday was Alcantara’s 17th quality start of the season, defined as pitching at least six innings while giving up no more than three earned runs. Miami is 9-8 in those games, including 1-4 when he pitches at least eight innings and 4-6 when he allows one run or fewer. Four of the Marlins’ eight shutout losses this season have come with Alcantara on the mound and they are 10-15 overall in his 25 appearances this season.
“That’s tough,” Alcantara said, “because you throw a real good game and you lose, but I can do nothing about it. I just have to keep my head up, keep doing my job, keep doing everything I can. Keep pitching.”
The Marlins’ best chance to score against the Braves came when they had the bases loaded with one out in the sixth, but Lewis Brinson popped out and Jesus Sanchez struck out swinging to strand the three runners. It was the only inning in which Miami had multiple runners on base and the only time it had a runner in scoring position with less than two outs.
This story was originally published August 17, 2021 at 9:44 PM.
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