Sandy Alcantara sets Marlins franchise strikeout record, surpassing Ricky Nolasco
When it comes to the most strikeouts in Miami Marlins history, Sandy Alcantara stands alone.
With his fourth strikeout Tuesday — to the Texas Rangers’ Kyle Higashioka in the seventh inning of Miami’s eventual 6-4 win at loanDepot park — Alcantara set the Marlins’ franchise record with 1,002 career strikeouts. He surpassed Ricky Nolasco, who had 1,001 strikeouts during his Marlins tenure from 2006-2013.
The game took a brief pause after the record-setting strikeout for the crowd to give Alcantara a round of applause.
After not logging a strikeout through the first two innings Tuesday, Alcantara got his first in the third when he capped an 11-pitch at-bat against Brandon Nimmo with a 91.6 mph changeup that Nimmo foul tipped into catcher Joe Mack’s glove.
Alcantara’s second and third strikeouts (the 1,000th of his Marlins tenure and then the record-tying strikeout) came in back-to-back at-bats to end the fifth inning. Wyatt Langford struck out on three pitches looking at a 98.7 mph sinker at the top of the zone before Alcantara struck out Nimmo for a second time — again swinging, again on a changeup.
And then he set the record by striking out Higashioka swinging on a slider with his 105th pitch.
The history came in the midst of Alcantara’s fifth consecutive quality start this month. Alcantara held the Rangers to one run over 6 2/3 innings while scattering five hits and issuing three walks. He has a 2.60 ERA this month (10 earned runs over 34 2/3 innings) after pitching to a 4.66 ERA over his first 12 starts of the season.
It’s a sign of Alcantara’s longevity with the Marlins as much as it is his dominance. Alcantara has never been known as a strikeout guy. He entered Tuesday with a career 20.8% strikeout rate and 7.7 strikeouts per nine innings mark.
But as a workhorse, he has shown the ability to consistently pitch deep into games and rack up strikeouts simply by nature of being on the mound more than others.
Alcantara is one of 35 pitchers in MLB to have at least 1,000 strikeouts since 2018, when he debuted with the Marlins. His 1,170 1/3 innings entering Tuesday’s start are tied for 12th most in that span despite only throwing 34 innings across six starts in that initial season and missing the entire 2024 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
He is also just the 12th Dominican pitcher with at least 1,000 strikeouts for a single franchise.
The others: Juan Marichal (San Francisco Giants, 2,281), Pedro Martinez (Boston Red Sox, 1,683), Mario Soto (Cincinnati Reds, 1,449), Ramon Martinez (Los Angeles Dodgers, 1,314), Jose Rijo (Cincinnati Reds, 1,251), Ervin Santana (Los Angeles Angels, 1,167), Freddy Peralta (Milwaukee Brewers, 1,153), Johnny Cueto (Cincinnati Reds, 1,115), Wandy Rodriguez (Houston Astros, 1,093), Framber Valdez (Houston Astros, 1,053) and Juan Guzman (Toronto Blue Jays, 1,030).
This story will be updated.
This story was originally published June 23, 2026 at 8:41 PM.
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