Philadelphia Phillies at Miami Marlins

MIAMI – Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara had a noticeable edge to him from the get-go in Tuesday night’s 1-0 win over the Phillies at loanDepot park. While Miami was in the midst of its franchise-record 12-game skid, Alcantara had a chance to be the stopper – something he takes pride in – but fell short of that in last Wednesday’s road loss to the Astros when he surrendered a pair of homers in the eighth. Alcantara didn’t stumble across seven frames against the Phillies, as the Marlins (54-54) won their second in a row to move back to .500 and remain two games behind the third and final National League Wild Card spot. Miami also secured its first series victory over Philadelphia (57-51) – which holds the second NL Wild Card spot – in 11 tries dating back to September 2023 en route to a postseason berth. “I didn't do it in Houston,” Alcantara said. “It was a great game to me, but it was a bad game for the team because we lost. But yeah, everything was working since I took the field today. Warming up in my ‘pen, warming up between innings.” Alcantara, who leads the Majors in innings (150 2/3) and quality starts (16), set the franchise mark with the 111th QS of his career and flirted with a no-hitter into the fifth. He allowed four hits, walked one and struck out five in a 97-pitch outing (64 strikes). The Phillies threatened against Alcantara in the second, when the first two batters reached, but he retired the next three in order to escape the threat. To open the fourth, Jakob Marsee robbed Bryce Harper of extra bases, crashing into the left-center-field wall to track down the fly ball. According to Statcast, it had a .920 expected batting average and would’ve been a homer in nine ballparks. “I knew he hit it good, so I put my head down and tried to peek as much as I could to see where the wall was, and then from there just try to get up and make the play,” Marsee said.