Sandy Alcantara dominates but Marlins lose to Cardinals on late Nolan Arenado home run
The Miami Marlins got a vintage performance from Sandy Alcantara on Wednesday.
They didn’t, however, give him run support and he had to watch as the St. Louis Cardinals scored the lone runs of the game in the one inning he didn’t pitch.
Nolan Arenado’s ninth-inning, two-run home run to left field off reliever Anthony Bender and just past the extended reach of Jorge Soler at the wall proved to be the difference the Marlins’ 2-0 loss to the Cardinals at loanDepot park — Miami’s first shutout loss of the season.
Miami falls to 4-7 on the season. The Cardinals are 7-3.
“You hate to waste one like that,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly, who was also celebrating his 61st birthday, said of the outcome despite Alcantara’s performance.
Bender has now given up a game-tying or game-winning run in the ninth inning three of his five relief appearances this season.
This time, the deciding hit he allowed came on a 98.5 mph sinker that clipped the inner edge of the strike zone against Arenado, who was 0 for 7 (including 0 for 3 with three strikeouts Wednesday) in the first two games of the series. Arenado sent the pitch a projected 379 feet.
“I liked the call. I liked the pitch,” Bender said. “I felt confident in it and he just beat me to it.”
Alcantara threw eight scoreless innings, allowing just four hits and a walk while striking out six. Of his 98 pitches, 62 landed for strikes — including 13 swings and misses and another 13 called strikes.
It was his best start of the young season and followed up his outing against the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday (two earned runs in 6 1/3 innings) to begin this first homestand of the season.
“He was outstanding,” catcher Jacob Stallings said.
It didn’t start out smooth, though.
Alcantara needed 27 pitches to get out of the first inning. The Cardinals’ first two hitters reached base with Tommy Edman getting an infield single and advancing to second on a Jazz Chisholm Jr. throwing error followed by a walk to Paul Goldschmidt to cap an eight-pitch plate appearance.
Alcantara got out of the jam without giving up a run by getting Tyler O’Neill to fly out to right field, Nolan Arenado to strike out swinging on a low sinker and Corey Dickerson to fly out to left field.
He gave up just three hits the rest of the way, threw no more than 12 pitches in a given inning and faced no more than four batters in a frame.
“After the first inning,” Alcantara said, “I just put my head down and tried to eliminate the bad pitches and tried to attack them.”
In four career starts against the Cardinals, Alcantara has a 0.99 ERA (three earned runs in 27 1/3 innings) with 29 strikeouts against eight walks.
But in those same four starts, Alcantara has yet to get a win.
The lack of run support, as has been the case for most of Alcantara’s career, once again played a factor.
Miami had just eight baserunners on Thursday via five singles, two walks and a hit by pitch. The Marlins went 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position, with two of those three at-bats coming with two outs and the first three coming before the fifth inning.
In the ninth, with runners on first and second following an Avisail Garcia single and Brian Anderson pinch-hit walk, Stallings struck out swinging and Miguel Rojas hit into a game-ending fielder’s choice.
Mattingly is now 4-6 all-time on his birthday as a manager, including a 1-4 mark with the Marlins after going 3-2 with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
As a player, Mattingly had a .316 batting average (12 for 38) with two doubles, two home runs, nine RBI and five runs scored in 10 career games played on April 20 during his 14-year playing career with the New York Yankees, who went 6-4 in those 10 games.
Injury update
The Marlins on Wednesday placed right-handed relief pitcher Paul Campbell on the 10-day injured list with a right-elbow strain.
Campbell, who was recalled on Sunday but did not appear in a game, will undergo an MRI to find out the severity of the injury.
Campbell, 26, also dealt with a similar injury toward the end of the 2021 season.
“He’d been throwing during the winter, building up, threw all spring and was good, was throwing in the Minor Leagues,” Mattingly said. “[Tuesday], he threw a bullpen and felt it.”
The Marlins recalled left-handed pitcher Daniel Castano to fill Campbell’s spot on the active roster.
This story was originally published April 20, 2022 at 9:45 PM.
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