How Miami Marlins fared at All-Star Game. Plus a player gives a shoutout to Hialeah
.JPG "National League pitcher Sandy Alcantara, of the Miami Marlins, throws a pitch to the American League during the second inning of the MLB All-Star baseball game, Tuesday, July 19, 2022, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)")
Sandy Alcantara may not have been the starting pitcher for the National League in the All-Star Game on Tuesday, but the Miami Marlins’ ace once again put up a dominance performance when his named was called.
Alcantara needed just 13 pitches for a perfect second inning at Dodger Stadium, striking out Giancarlo Stanton and Byron Buxton before getting Tim Anderson to groundout to first base to finish his time on the mound.
The National League lost 3-2 to the American League, with the AL scoring all three of its runs on back-to-back home runs by Giancarlo Stanton and Byron Buxton in the third against Tony Gonsolin. Stanton was named MVP.
Alcantara followed Los Angeles Dodgers lefty Clayton Kershaw, who threw a scoreless first inning.
Of Alcantara’s 13 pitches, 10 landed for strikes. He threw seven four-seam fastballs, three sinkers and three sliders.
His four-seam fastball averaged 98.8 mph and topped out at 99.6 mph. His sinker hit 99.7 mph.
He struck out Stanton on three pitches — a 98 mph four-seam fastball taken over the heart of the plate for Strike 1, a 98.4 mph sinker that was fouled off for Strike 2 and then an elevated 91.8 mph slider that Stanton watched go past him for Strike 3.
After throwing a high fastball to Buxton for Ball 1, Alcantara threw three consecutive four-seam fastballs in the zone. Buxton whiffed on two of them, including one a 99.4 mph for Strike 3.
Anderson put up the biggest test against Alcantara, getting ahead in the count 2-1 before fouling off back to back pitches and hitting a 99.4 mph sinker into the ground to end the inning.
“We all know,” Kershaw told reporters in Los Angeles, “that he’s the best pitcher on the planet right now.”
%20(1).JPG "AllStarGameBaseball (1) (1).JPG")
Shout out, Hialeah!
The Marlins’ Garrett Cooper, who was named an All-Star as an National League roster replacement for the injured Bryce Harper, struck out swinging against New York Yankees lefty and Hialeah-raised Nestor Cortes in the sixth inning to strand two runners in his first at-bat of the game.
But it was what happened before Cooper’s at-bat that served as quality television.
Cortes, born in Cuba but raised in Hialeah, pitched the sixth inning and was mic’d up while he was on the mound.
He gave a shout out to the city in between at-bats, which prompted a simple question:
“What’s Hialeah like, Nestor?”
His response: “You find something different every day there that you won’t find anywhere else. That’s for sure.”
Cortes, who played at Hialeah High before being drafted by the Yankees in the 36th round of the 2013 MLB Draft, struck out two — including Cooper — and didn’t allow a hit but had to work around a walk to Pete Alonso and a Travis d’Arnaud hit-by-pitch.
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Alek Manoah, a South Dade High alumnus, was also mic’d up during his inning. He struck out three batters in the second inning — William Contreras looking, Joc Peterson swinging and Ronald Acuna Jr swinging — to work around a Jeff McNeil hit by pitch.
Cooper finished the game 0 for 2, also striking out to lead off the ninth.
This story was originally published July 19, 2022 at 11:32 PM.
.JPG)