Marlins fall for second consecutive game to Rockies despite better start for Alcantara

The Miami Marlins lost to the worst team in the majors for the second consecutive night Tuesday, but that didn’t seem to matter afterward because Sandy Alcantara was smiling.

And how many times have we seen a smile on the face of the Marlins’ ace after a start during this frustrating season coming off Tommy John surgery?

But it was there after Tuesday’s 3-2 loss to the Colorado Rockies at loanDepot park, and there was incredible optimism inside the home clubhouse that his second quality start of the season — two runs on four hits over six innings — can begin to turn things around for him.

“Right now, it feels way better,” Alcantara said. “You have to start from the bottom, step by step, and today I think I made a great step. It seems today, everything will change.”

Alcantara said he felt good vibes driving to the ballpark and “my mentality was completely different” from usual when he arrived at the clubhouse.

He played some Pop-a-Shot basketball with teammates leading up to the game, and then took the mound and struck out two of the first three batters he faced.

In the fifth inning, he ran into trouble.

Alcantara gave up a walk to Mickey Moniak on four consecutive balls and an infield single on a high chopper to Tyler Freeman, who then stole second. Jordan Beck struck an RBI single and Thairo Estrada hit a sacrifice fly to knot the score at 2.

Alcantara bore down and struck out Hunter Goodman swinging with a 97-mph four-seam fastball to limit the damage to two runs, and then came back out and ripped through a 1-2-3 sixth inning.

“It was great. Finally, I got up to six innings today,” Alcantara said.

Alcantara’s other quality start came in an April 23 loss at home when he allowed three runs in six innings to the Reds. He entered Tuesday’s outing having allowed 31 earned runs in his past six starts.

“From start to finish, this was overall the most complete game he’s put together this season,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “The quality of the misses and the quality of the throws were terrific.”

McCullough gave the ball to reliever Calvin Faucher after the sixth inning, deciding not to send Alcantara back out even though he had only thrown 70 pitches.

“It was just how things have gone this season,” McCullough said, explaining why. “For him to be able to take this one and go home and feel really good about how the entire outing went, to get through six and limit them to just a couple of runs…there were so many qualities about this outing he can take away and continue to build on.”

Alcantara said he didn’t ask McCullough to go out for the seventh. The Rockies scored the go-ahead run on Goodman’s home run to left off Anthony Bender in the eighth inning. It was Goodman’s third homer in two nights.

He was 3-for-5 with three RBI and three runs scored in Monday’s 6-4 win and 2-for-4 with a double Tuesday as the Rockies snapped their streak of 22 consecutive series lost, dating back to September of last season — an MLB record for futility, according to Elias.

The Marlins struck first Monday, taking a 2-0 lead in the third inning on RBI singles by Jesús Sánchez and Kyle Stowers.

THIS AND THAT

▪ Max Meyer, who allowed five runs on 10 hits in five innings Monday, was placed on the 15-day injured list Tuesday with a left hip impingement. Fellow right-hander George Soriano was recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville.

“He’s been feeling it for a few starts,” McCullough said of Meyer. “Nothing that we felt was really limiting or hindering. [Monday] was the first time he felt like in the outing it was starting to inhibit his ability to finish and make pitches. Looking back, you could see that some.”

In his past two outings, Meyer has surrendered 17 hits and eight earned runs in 8 1/3 innings.

“It needs a chance to calm down,” McCullough said of the impingement. “Try to knock out some of that inflammation and get Max back when this has had the proper amount of time to heal and he can go out there in a spot where he’s not having to think about having to pitch around an ailment.”

▪ Eury Pérez allowed one earned run on three hits in 4 1/3 innings (he was scheduled to pitch five innings) Tuesday night for Jacksonville in his final rehab start. He threw 82 pitches (44 for strikes), struck out four, and walked three.

Barring a setback, McCullough said Pérez will return from Tommy John surgery during the Marlins’ upcoming road trip to Tampa, Pittsburgh, and Washington.

▪ First baseman Matt Mervis was outrighted to Jacksonville, for whom he homered Tuesday, after no team claimed him following the Marlins designating him for assignment.

▪ Tuesday’s announced attendance at loanDepot park was 7,583, an improvement on Monday’s total (5,894), which was the lowest for any major league game this season and the lowest for a Marlins’ home game since 2022.