Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara not starting against Cleveland Guardians. What we know
Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara is not making his scheduled start against the Cleveland Guardians on Saturday.
This is just the second start Alcantara has missed since the start of the 2021 season. The other came in July 2021 when he went on the bereavement list following his mother’s death.
Devin Smeltzer will start Game 1 of the doubleheader opposite Cleveland’s Shane Bieber at Progressive Field, which has a scheduled 3:10 p.m. first pitch. Braxton Garrett will pitch for the Marlins in the nightcap, which is scheduled to start about 45 minutes after Game 1 ends. Zach Plesac is pitching the second game for the Guardians.
Alcantara is experiencing some biceps tendinitis, but will not be placed on the injured list. All indications are that the team is hopeful he will avoid the IL and only miss this one start. If that’s the case, he will be available to pitch during the team’s next series against Atlanta Braves at Truist Park.
“We feel like he’s going to start in Atlanta,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said pregame Saturday. “It didn’t feel right to start him in a cold weather day, cold weather environment. He felt it a few days ago. Again, it didn’t feel right to push him today in the cold weather and not knowing what times the games are. He’s so routine oriented. It just felt a couple more days to let it calm down was the move.”
And with Trevor Rogers (left biceps strain) and Johnny Cueto (right biceps tightness) already on the injured list, the Marlins need Alcantara’s time missed to be minimal because are quickly running out of internal options.
“It’s all isolated,” Schumaker said of the rash of biceps injuries to his rotation. “It’s not because of too many curls, I can promise you that. It’s just one of those things that they’re dealing with right now. I know it’s classified as biceps issues, but they’re all in different spots. I don’t feel like it’s the exact same injury concern.”
Alcantara, the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner, has gotten off to a rough start in 2023. He has a 5.47 ERA over 24 2/3 innings through his first four starts, which includes a three-hit shutout against the Minnesota Twins on April 4. Remove the shutout, and his ERA balloons to 8.62 (15 runs in 15 2/3 innings). The 27-year-old right-handed pitcher has given up 14 runs (12 earned runs) over 10 innings in his past two starts against the Philadelphia Phillies and Arizona Diamondbacks.
“I mentioned to him going into the season that, ‘Hey, the part that I’m going to challenge you with getting better is the game planning part and seeing how clubs have adjusted to you. That’s your next level,’” Marlins pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. told the Miami Herald earlier this week. “I don’t want you to get away from attacking, but pay attention to how you’re doing it, who’s adjusting and then be able to shift off of that. They’ve jumped him early and probably the biggest thing for him is we’ve got to get his sinker and his changeup going back down because pitches are running out.”
The Marlins-Guardians series opener on Friday was postponed due to inclement weather, prompting the Saturday doubleheader.
Jesus Luzardo is still scheduled to start on Sunday for the Marlins in their finale against the Guardians.
This story was originally published April 22, 2023 at 11:56 AM.
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