MIAMI, FL – Hoping to capitalize on their weekend series sweep and gain ground in the NL Wild Card race, the Miami Marlins left game one against the Boston Red Sox with hitting inconsistencies. Despite Sandy Alcantara’s dominance on the mound, the Marlins couldn’t back him up with enough run support, leaving 14 runners on base in their 4-2 loss to the Red Sox.
Marlins Fail to Capitalize with ROB
The Marlins got on the scoreboard first in this game. In the bottom half of the second, both Jakob Marsee and Esteury Ruiz got hit by pitches, and Javier Sanoja drew a walk. With the bases loaded, the Marlins had a huge opportunity to make a mark early on.
After Joe Mack was called out on strikes, Otto Lopez drove in the first run on a sacrifice fly. Then, however, Heriberto Hernandez flew out to end the inning. Despite the 1-0 lead, it felt like a wasted opportunity to do some heavy lifting.
In the third, Kyle Stowers doubled into center field, and eventually Marsee took a walk. However, Javier Sanoja grounded out to end the inning.
The fifth inning showed some promise for the Marlins. Hernandez and singles and Stowers took a free pass to first base. Then, Agustin Ramirez struck out swinging, Xavier Edwards grounded into a force out, and Marsee lined out.
Miami had the bases loaded again in the seventh after Otto Lopez doubled, and Hernandez and Owen Caissie walked. Edwards broke the ice and singled with a ground ball into right field. The Fish led 2-1 late in the game.
With desires of doing more, nothing eventful happened after that. Marsee lined into a force out and Sanoja grounded out.
The game was tied at two in the eighth. With one out, both Leo Jimenez and Lopez reached base on singles. With a runner in scoring position, the inning once again ended in failure. Hernandez reached on a fielder’s choice, and Stowers struck out.
Boston eventually hit two go-ahead runs in the ninth, and Miami didn’t respond.
Sandy Alcantara Brilliant in No-Decision
Alcantara had himself another productive outing. He threw seven innings of one-run ball, allowing six hits and two walks on six punchouts. He reached triple digits on his pitch count for the 15th time at 102 pitches.
His stuff was nasty on the mound as he got 11 swing-and-misses. Alcantara’s top three pitches were the sinker, changeup, and cutter. So far in August, he holds a 1.36 ERA and a .197 opponents’ batting average, which is his best in any month this season.
Mickey Gasper got to him in the fifth inning. He hit a double into center field, scoring Jarren Duran to even things up at one run. Aside from that, Alcantara was dialed in.
Alcantara has been pitching at an elite level since the beginning of June. He’s had six straight dominating performances and 14 such stretches in his last 16 appearances.
Sandy Alcantara has now tossed at least six innings in ten consecutive starts. Since the All-Star break, he boasts a 1.87 ERA and 1.06 WHIP in eight starts.
Sandy Alcántara had his 8th start of at least 7 innings pitched allowing 1 run or fewer on Monday night, breaking a tie with 3 others for most such starts in MLB this season 👏 pic.twitter.com/Durv4PtpHQ
He leads the MLB in innings pitched this season with 183.2. This was also his eighth start this season with at least seven innings pitched and allowing a run or fewer.
Bullpen Squanders Lead for Good
The second Josh Ekness was placed in the game; it spelled trouble for Miami. Wilyer Abreu hit a sharp fly ball into right field for a double. To make matters worse, he hit Wilson Contreras. Later on, Ekness allowed Boston their second run after throwing a wild pitch.
Ekness would eventually get credited with the blown save. Pete Fairbanks came in the ninth inning and walked Gasper. All five of his pitches in the at-bat were well out of the strike zone. He eventually got taken out due to injury.
Tyler Zuber came in to relieve him. Anthony Siegler hit his first career triple to put the Red Sox ahead 3-2. Fairbanks was responsible for the run and the loss.
Top 9th Red Sox 3 | Marlins 2
Boston takes the lead after Anthony Seigler rips his first career three-bagger pic.twitter.com/1R0j7md3iA
He’s a diehard 305 native who roots for his hometown teams in the good, the bad, and the ugly. Recently, he graduated from FIU with an MBA, but now he’s a Lemonhead covering UM basketball. Known to be anywhere and everywhere, you may catch him at a Miami sporting event.
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