Marlins rally to walk-off Pirates on Opening Day, back Alcantara in return from Tommy John
Sandy Alcantara had waited more than a year and a half for this moment. The Miami Marlins’ ace spent all of last season relegated to the dugout as he rehabbed following Tommy John surgery and vowed to return better than ever once he got back to the mound.
So, yeah, the emotions were high for Alcantara as he took the mound for the Marlins on Thursday.
“I was close to crying, but I’m hard to cry,” Alcantara said. “It felt good. Finally, I’m back on a big-league mound. I feel very happy about myself and the journey and the sacrifices I made to be back.”
And in his return, Alcantara showcased both the dominance he can possess and the rust that comes with so much time away.
After throwing four no-hit innings to begin his start, Alcantara fell into a jam with two outs in the fifth inning that he couldn’t get out of against the Pittsburgh Pirates, but Miami’s offense rallied to support their ace in an eventual 5-4 walk-off win at loanDepot park.
The Pirates broke up Alcantara’s no-hit bid with a Ke’Bryan Hayes single to right-center field and followed with back-to-back walks from Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Tommy Pham to load the bases. Bryan Reynolds then hit a two-run single up the middle to end Alcantara’s day and put Miami down 2-1.
The Marlins’ deficit grew to 4-1 by the sixth inning before they rallied for three unanswered runs on a passed ball in the sixth inning and back-to-back two-out singles in the eighth inning to tie the game. Kyle Stowers then sealed the win — their first under new manager Clayton McCullough and first on Opening Day since 2020 — with an walk-off single to right that scored Javier Sanoja, who pinch-ran for catcher Nick Fortes after Fortes led off the ninth inning with a triple.
Alcantara’s final line: Two runs allowed on two hits and four walks with seven strikeouts over 4 2/3 innings pitched. He threw 91 pitches, 57 of which were strikes and 16 of which were swings and misses.
“It wasn’t my best outing today,” Alcantara said, “but I was fighting since the first inning. I just need to take away the walks, and I’ll be OK.”
It was the shortest outing of his franchise-record five Opening Day starts after previously going at least five innings in each of the other four season openers he started.
Will it be his last with the Marlins? That’s the question that will hover over Alcantara and the Marlins all season. Miami is in full rebuild mode in Year 2 under president of baseball operations Peter Bendix. They shipped off so many of their big names over the past 12 months — Luis Arraez, Jake Burger, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Tanner Scott and A.J. Puk among them — to restock their minor-league system.
Alcantara is the only high-end player remaining making significant money — he’s due $17.3 million this year and next year with a $21 million club option for the 2027 season. Alcantara would surely net the Marlins a massive haul if he is dealt.
Regardless of how and when that unfolds, what Alcantara showcased for the majority of the outing was a reminder of who he is at his peak — and what the Marlins so sorely missed last season.
He threw two perfect innings to begin the start, with three strikeouts and three groundouts. After giving up a leadoff walk in the third, he responded with three consecutive strikeouts looking — Hayes on a slider, Kiner-Falefa on a sinker, and Pham on a four-seam fastball.
And then after giving up a four-pitch walk to Oneil Cruz with one out in the fourth, Alcantara induced a pair of groundouts by Joey Bart and Andrew McCutchen to eliminate another threat.
And then came that fifth inning, which started with Alcantara striking out Nick Gonzalez and Endy Rodriguez on seven pitches before allowing the final four batters he faced to reach base and two of them to score.
Alcantara’s fastball topped out at 99.8 mph in the first inning and he mixed in all of his pitches on Thursday.
“It’s huge,” Fortes said of Alcantara’s return. “Anytime you can rely on a guy like that at the top of the rotation, it provides a lot of stability for the team and the staff. And just his leadership, he’s just a really good human being and a great teammate. To have him back and competing again, not only for the betterment of our club, but for the betterment of our other pitchers that haven’t been in this position before, to be able to watch how he goes about his business and works, I think that’s a huge benefit for them to see as well.”
Thursday was Alcantara’s first start since Sept. 3, 2023. He underwent Tommy John surgery a month after that final outing, shortly after the Marlins’ first-round playoff exit, and missed all of the 2024 season as a result.
Alcantara’s rehab went off without a hitch. He was throwing bullpens and live batting practice sessions by the time the Marlins’ 2024 season came to an end and went through a regular offseason program.
His absence last season was noticeable. With Alcantara sidelined all season and just about every other key starter missing time throughout the year with injury, Marlins starting pitchers posted a collective 5.24 ERA, the second-worst mark in MLB.
The Marlins know what they will get from Alcantara at his best. He won the NL Cy Young Award in 2022 in unanimous fashion after going 14-9 with a 2.28 ERA, 207 strikeouts and a .212 batting average against in 228 2/3 innings through 32 starts. He pitched six complete games.
From 2020 to 2023, all four seasons in which Alcantara was Miami’s Opening Day starter prior to the injury, Alcantara was one of 19 pitchers to have started 100 games. Of those 19, he threw the most complete games (10) and the second-most innings (661) while holding the fourth-best ERA (3.13) and fifth-best walks and hits per inning pitched (1.088).
On Thursday, he made his return after a year and a half away.
“Sandy was great,” McCullough said. “I mean, you think about everything going into that outing for him, right? All offseason long working to get back, everything he’s doing, so much hype leading up to this, all the adrenaline I’m sure he was feeling coming back on a major league mound again, competing, and it being Opening Day. He came out of the gates and he was terrific. And then probably just hit a wall there a little bit. Probably uncharacteristic for him, but in all fairness to him, Sandy is human. There’s a lot of emotions going into it. I thought overall the stuff was great.”
This story was originally published March 27, 2025 at 7:14 PM.
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