Sandy Alcantara gem leads Miami Marlins to win over Phillies

As MLB’s trade deadline approaches on Monday, Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara once again is dominating trade rumors.

And after the Marlins saw their hopes of reaching the postseason take a hit over the past two-plus weeks after losing 12 consecutive games, naturally the talk of if the Marlins will finally deal Alcantara once again intensified.

Put that talk to bed for now.

While the Marlins have not publicly commented on their plans for the trade deadline, the anticipation is that Alcantara is not going to be dealt. Alcantara is on the final guaranteed year of his current contract, which has a $21 million club option for the 2027 season.

And in Alcantara’s penultimate scheduled start before the 5 p.m. Monday deadline, he once again showed just how critical he is to the club’s present and potentially to its future.

Alcantara tossed seven shutout innings in a 1-0 series-clinching win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday at loanDepot park. The outing was Alcantara’s 111th career quality start (defined as pitching at least six innings while giving up no more than three earned runs), the most in Marlins franchise history.

Miami has now won back-to-back games following its franchise-record losing streak to improve to 54-54. The Phillies fall to 57-51.

Alcantara carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning before Phillies right fielder Bryan De La Cruz logged a two-out infield single.

Overall, Alcantara allowed just four hits and six total baserunners (also one walk and one via error) while striking out five. He threw 97 pitches, 64 of which landed for strikes.

In 11 starts since June 1, Alcantara has a 2.99 ERA (25 earned runs over 75 1/3 innings) and has nine quality starts in that stretch. His 150 2/3 innings pitched this season and his 16 quality starts both lead MLB.

“He’s been not only taking down a ton of innings,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said pregame, “but the manner in which he’s thrown the ball, he’s been fantastic.”

First baseman Kyle Stowers gave Alcantara and the Marlins all the run support they needed with a solo home run against Aaron Nola in the first, his 14th of the season.

Alcantara ran into two jams during his outing. The first came in the second inning when he issued a leadoff walk to Alec Bohm and Brandon Marsh reached base on a Kyle Stowers throwing error. He stranded both runners by striking out Edmundo Sosa, getting Justin Crawford to ground out and De La Cruz to pop out.

In the sixth, Alcantara gave up back-to-back two-out singles to Bryce Harper and Bohm before striking out Brandon Marsh.

In between, center fielder Jakob Marsee then temporarily kept the no-hitter bid alive in the fourth when he robbed Harper of an extra-base hit with a catch at the wall in left-center field. Griffin Conine also made a sliding grab on a soft line drive from Crawford in the fifth before the Phillies broke up the no-hit bid.

Calvin Faucher and Pete Fairbanks tossed two scoreless innings out of the bullpen, with Fairbanks earning his 14th save of the season in the process, to seal the win.

The Marlins go for the series sweep at 12:10 p.m. Wednesday.

Jordan McPherson

Miami Herald

Jordan McPherson covers the Miami Hurricanes and Florida Panthers for the Miami Herald. He attended the University of Florida and covered the Gators athletic program for five years before joining the Herald staff in December 2017.