Miami Marlins walk off Nationals in extras to back up another Sandy Alcantara gem
Sandy Alcantara threw yet another gem on Wednesday as he continues to build his case to not only be an All-Star but to warrant serious discussion for the National League Cy Young Award.
And although it took until the 10th inning, the Miami Marlins finally got the run support they needed to leave loanDepot park with a win and not waste Alcantara’s latest round of brilliance.
Jesus Aguilar hit a walk-off single to score Willians Astudillo and seal the Marlins’ 2-1 victory over the Washington Nationals. It’s the Marlins’ second walk-off win of the season and second of this homestand. Miami improves to 24-30, while Washington falls to 21-37.
“I was lucky enough to get that hit and I feel great there,” Aguilar said through a team interpreter. “We were able to get the W, which is the most important part.”
But the final inning didn’t come without drama. With one out and Jazz Chisholm Jr. on second, Astudillo recorded a pinch-hit single to right. Chisholm slid home on the play but was initially ruled out by the home plate umpire. After a length review, the umpire ruled Kiebert Ruiz was in the running lane, so Chisholm was ruled safe at home to tie the game.
One at-bat later, Aguilar hit a ground ball that deflected off second base and into center field to allow Astudillo to score the game-winning run from second.
“We catch a break,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said, “and it seems like we haven’t caught a break in these kinds of games all year. ... The baseball gods were looking out for us tonight.”
But while Chisholm, Astudillo and Aguilar had the late heroics, it was Alcantara and his right arm that kept them alive until that point. The Marlins’ ace held the Nationals off the scoreboard for nine innings, scattering just six hits and striking out six on 105 pitches (84 strikes).
Alcantara retired the side in order in four of his nine innings and only allowed multiple runners to reach base once during his outing, when Josh Bell and Ruiz each hit singles in the second inning. Ehire Adrianza grounded out to end the threat.
He got through three innings on 33 pitches — with 30 of those pitches landing for strikes.
Sixteen of his 27 outs were groundouts, and only two of the 33 at-bats against him went longer than five pitches.
“I mean, holy cow,” Mattingly said. “That was pretty good.”
It was Alcantara’s sixth consecutive game pitching at least seven innings and allowing no more than one earned run. In this stretch, Alcantara has a 0.56 ERA, allowing three earned runs over 48 innings while striking out 46 and walking just eight.
His ERA for the season, as a result, has dropped from 3.03 in the six starts prior to this streak to 1.61, which is the third-best in MLB this season behind only the Texas Rangers’ Martin Perez (1.56) and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Tony Gonsolin (1.58). It’s also the lowest ERA in Marlins history through a player’s first 12 starts of the season. Alcantara leads MLB with 83 2/3 innings pitched and also ranks fourth with a .190 batting average against.
“He’s on a pretty good roll,” Mattingly said. “I can’t say I’m surprised. He’s throwing the ball so good, but to throw zeroes all night, and you’ve got to go through some boys over there. ... His consistency has been through the roof.”
To add even more context to Alcantara’s impeccable run, he is just the eighth pitcher in Marlins history to pitch at least seven innings in six consecutive starts in the same season and the first to do so since Anibal Sanchez from April 24, 2012, to May 19, 2012.
The others: Kevin Brown (a franchise-record 16-game stretch in 1996), Carl Pavano (13 consecutive games in 2004), Dontrelle Willis (eight consecutive games in 2006), Livan Hernandez (eight consecutive games in 1998), Josh Johnson (six consecutive games on three separate occasions, once each in 2009, 2010 and 2011) and A.J. Burnett (six consecutive games in 2005).
He is the first MLB pitcher to accomplish such a feat since Noah Syndergaard from July 13 through Aug. 10, 2019.
How exactly does Alcantara feel on the mound during this stretch?
“The best,” he said. “You have all your stuff working. You’ve got to be aggressive every time so that you have the opportunity for your team to win the game.”
He is also the third different pitcher in the last 10 seasons to put together a six-game streak with at least sevens innings and allowing no more than one earned run in each outing, according to ESPN Stats & Info. Clayton Kershaw and Jake Arrieta are the others.
In Alcantara’s previous five starts of this stretch, the Marlins’ offense scored 30 total runs. Miami went 5-0 in those five games.
He almost wasn’t as fortunate Wednesday — and it’s not like the offense didn’t have its chances to win the game before extra innings. Miami went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position through nine innings.
The Marlins loaded the bases with one out in the first on back-to-back singles by Garrett Cooper and Jorge Soler before Jesus Aguilar reached on a catcher’s interference. Avisail Garcia and Jon Berti both proceeded to strike out swinging to strand all three.
They had runners on first and second with no outs in the third when Cooper and Soler again hit back-to-back singles, but Aguilar lined out, Garcia popped out and Berti struck out swinging. Two more stranded.
And in the ninth, the Marlins got their first two hitters on base via a Berti single and Miguel Rojas walk.
What followed: A force out of Berti at third base on a Jacob Stallings bunt, a fielder’s choice at second base on a Bryan De La Cruz ground ball and a Chisholm strikeout to send the game to extra innings.
The Nationals scored their inherited runner, Luis Garcia, on a Kierbert Ruiz single against Tanner Scott but got nothing more.
The Marlins got two runs to win.
“We feel good,” Alcantara said, “because we win.”
Injury updates
▪ Center fielder Jesus Sanchez was not in the lineup Wednesday after being removed in the second inning Tuesday with upper back tightness.
“I heard he was a little better,” Mattingly said, “but when I saw him, he didn’t have that giant smile on his face, so I had a feeling he wasn’t feeling great.”
▪ Third baseman/outfielder Brian Anderson saw a spine specialist on Wednesday but Mattingly did not have a formal update on how the visit went.
Up next
The Marlins wrap up their three-game series with the Nationals and their seven-game homestand on Thursday, with first pitch set for 6:40 p.m. Trevor Rogers is on the mound for the Marlins, while Stephen Strasburg will make his 2022 debut for the Nationals.
After that, the Marlins embark on a three-city, 10-game, 11-day road trip against the Houston Astros (Friday through Sunday), Philadelphia Phillies (Monday through Wednesday) and New York Mets (June 17-20).
This story was originally published June 8, 2022 at 10:14 PM.
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