The Miami Marlins are looking for a repeat version of former Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcantara in hopes of winning their home series Sunday afternoon against the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Marlins won a thriller on Saturday after leading 4-1 entering the ninth inning. Miami closer Pete Fairbanks could not lock down the save against his former team after allowing two runs on 39 pitches.
However, reliever Tyler Zuber struck out the Rays’ Junior Caminero with the bases loaded on five pitches, the final one a 95-mph four-seam fastball that squared the series with a 4-3 win.
Now it’s Alcantara’s turn.
The National League’s unanimous 2022 winner of the Cy Young Award, Alcantara (4-4, 4.59 ERA) turned in a steady showing in Monday’s 7-3 win at the Washington Nationals.
The right-hander allowed three runs, surrendering a two-run shot to Jacob Young, and struck out five batters without a walk in seven innings.
It was a fine rebound after a difficult May that saw the 30-year-old Dominican pitcher go 0-2 with a 7.39 ERA in five starts.
With a club option for 2027 making him attractive to contenders in need of a veteran hurler, Alcantara’s name has surfaced as a player possibly being moved at the trade deadline.
His concern is more about pitching — forgetting the mistakes or a bad month and moving forward.
“How aggressive I was in the game,” Alcantara replied of what he liked about his start against the Nationals. “Since the first inning — I know I gave up a homer in the second inning, but that doesn’t matter to me.”
Alcantara has no record and a 0.00 ERA in one career start against the Rays — his best from that awful previous month — by allowing one unearned run on seven hits and no walks with six strikeouts in six innings on May 16. The Marlins won 10-5 in 10 innings.
Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash was wary of a streaky Miami squad from the start.
The Marlins had lost five straight, including getting swept at the New York Mets on May 29-31. They rallied, found their brooms and did the same thing to Washington to finish a nine-game road trip.
“They have tough hitters with good approaches and good team speed,” Cash said of Miami, which leads the majors in stolen bases with 72. “We’ve got to do a good job of keeping them off base. And once they get on base, hope (catcher Nick) Fortes can throw them out.”
Cash added that the attitude has not changed at all during a recent 2-8 skid, saying, “The dynamic in the clubhouse, before and after games, has been fantastic.”
The Rays managed only five hits Saturday in defeat, with Yandy Diaz recording three to up his average to .326. Tampa Bay won the series opener 6-0 on Friday.
Like almost all the Tampa Bay starters during the poor 10-game stretch, right-hander Griffin Jax (1-4, 4.76) was hit hard last time out.
On Monday at home in the series opener against the then-slumping Detroit Tigers, Jax was lit up for six runs on seven hits in four innings.
The worst part was that the usually punchless Tigers got plenty of punch as Dillon Dingler, Kerry Carpenter and Riley Greene all took the right-hander deep in the dome.
In four career relief appearances against the Marlins totaling 3 2/3 innings, Jax is 1-1 with a 4.91 ERA.
–Field Level Media
