Miami Marlins swept by Cardinals, go 0-6 on road trip. Takeaways from the loss
The Miami Marlins’ first week back from the All-Star Break is officially their worst week of the season — and that title comes at the most inopportune time.
The Marlins lost their series finale to the St. Louis Cardinals 6-4 on Wednesday at Busch Stadium to cap an 0-6 road trip to begin the unofficial second half of the season. Miami (53-45) was swept by the Baltimore Orioles to begin the road trip before losing all three games in St. Louis. The Marlins dropped the first two games against the Cardinals (43-53) 6-4 on Monday and 5-2 in 10 innings on Tuesday.
It’s the first time this season the Marlins have lost six consecutive games. Their previous season high was five games May 2-6.
It’s also the first time Miami went winless on a road trip of at least six games since August 2019, when they did so on back-to-back trips (at Tampa Bay and the New York Mets and then at Colorado and Atlanta).
“A frustrating road trip, no doubt about it,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “That’s not what we envisioned when we came back [from the All-Star Break]. Guys are frustrated in there. I’m frustrated. I think everyone is ready to get back to Miami for sure.”
Here are three takeaways from the game.
What to make of Sandy Alcantara
If only Sandy Alcantara could eliminate the one blowup inning. It’s an issue that has plagued him all season.
On Wednesday, it came in the first inning when Alcantara allowed four runs in an eight-batter, 24-pitch opening frame. Six consecutive Cardinals reached base with one out — a Paul Goldschmidt single, Lars Nootbaar walk, Nolan Arenado RBI single, Nolan Gorman three-run homer to center, Ivan Herrera walk, and Alec Burleson single — before Paul DeJong hit into an inning-ending double play.
“They were on the attack with the fastball,” Schumaker said. “You could tell early they kind of set the tone.”
It’s the sixth time this season Alcantara has given up at least four runs in an inning. He also did so June 21 against the Toronto Blue Jays (five runs in the second inning), June 4 against the Oakland Athletics (five runs in third inning), April 16 against the Arizona Diamondbacks (five runs in sixth inning) and twice on April 10 against the Philadelphia Phillies (five runs in third inning, four runs in sixth inning).
To recap, 28 of the 69 runs Alcantara has allowed this season — 40.6 percent — have come in six innings of work spanning 20 starts.
Alcantara settled in from there, giving up just four hits — all singles — over his final five innings while striking out seven and not issuing a walk.
But that one rough inning, like it has so many times before, spoiled his outing.
“I feel so bad,” Alcantara said. “Everything happened in one inning. As you saw, after that, you’re just trying to concentrate and attack the zone and try to go deep in the game.”
On the season, Alcantara has a 4.70 ERA over 126 1/3 innings through 20 starts.
The Cardinals tacked on two more runs in the seventh inning against Huascar Brazoban.
Clutch hitting remains elusive
The Marlins went 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position and left seven runners on base Wednesday.
That brings the team’s collective total on the road trip to a .194 batting average with runners in scoring position (12 for 62) and 48 total runners stranded.
The two hits on Wednesday: A Jesus Sanchez two-run single at the end of a nine-pitch at-bat to cut Miami’s early deficit to 4-2 in the third inning and a Luis Arraez two-out double in the ninth to get the score to 6-4 and bring the game-tying run to the plate. Jorge Soler hit a flyout to right to seal the loss.
“It’s not like they’re giving up,” Schumaker said. “They’re going forward with their game plan the right way. I mean, Soler’s last [ball in play] there was hit hard. It’s just baseball. Stuff falls and stuff gets caught. [The Cardinals] made some great plays on defense the last couple games. Again, they’re hitting the ball hard. We’re not getting the hit.”
Bryan De La Cruz hit a solo home run to lead off the eighth inning to account for Miami’s other run on Wednesday.
Almost all at home from now until the trade deadline
The Marlins play 10 of their next 12 games at home, starting with a weekend series against the Colorado Rockies that begins Friday. They then go to St. Petersburg for a two-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays before playing the next seven at home — three games against the Detroit Tigers July 28-30 and four against the Philadelphia Phillies July 31-Aug. 3.
Miami is 30-18 at home this season.
In the middle of that Phillies series is MLB’s Aug. 1 trade deadline. Even with this road trip to forget, the Marlins are still in the thick of the playoff hunt, one game behind the Phillies for the third wild card spot and two games behind the San Francisco Giants for the top wild card spot through games played Wednesday afternoon. An impact bat is needed and help in the bullpen (specifically a right-handed reliever) would be welcomed, too.
▪ Marlins third base coach/infield coach Jody Reed has a broken right leg after being hit by a foul ball in the third inning. Quality assurance coach Griffin Benedict replaced Reed for the remainder of the game.
“He’s going to be down,” Schumaker said of Reed. “I’m not sure how long, but he had an X-ray and the doctor said it was broke.”
This story was originally published July 19, 2023 at 5:01 PM.
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