Sandy shuts down Giants

Miami, FL—Coming off a near-impeccable performance over the weekend in Atlanta, Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara took the mound for the series opener on Thursday night against the San Francisco Giants. While Miami still didn’t provide Alcantara with much run support, the Marlins were able to come away with their 21st win of the season.

Even though the Marlins didn’t take batting practice on Thursday afternoon as their team flight didn’t arrive back from Colorado until around 5 a.m. local time, the offense was able to give their ace an early run. Jacob Stallings came through with an RBI single off Alex Wood in the bottom of the 2nd inning to give the Marlins a 1-0 lead.

That’s all Sandy needed in this one. In addition to recording his 500th career strikeout, he went 7 shutout innings and allowed 3 hits, 2 walks, and struck out 8. He continues to lead the Majors in innings pitched (74.2)—averaging more than 100 pitches per start this season—and is potentially in the running to start the All-Star Game in Los Angeles this summer.

Sandy mentioned postgame that he didn’t know he had reached the #500 milestone during the game. He told reporters that he was puzzled as to why the team asked him to throw the ball back into the dugout.

The Marlins gave Sandy some more insurance in the bottom of the 6th. RBI hits by Jesús Aguilar and Miguel Rojas extended Miami’s lead to 3-0.

Steven Okert and Tanner Scott handled the 8th and 9th respectively, and Miami won game 1 of their 4-game set with the Giants.

Sandy Alcantara was the winning pitcher, and Alex Wood was the loser. Miami improves to 21-28, while the Giants fell to 27-23. The Marlins have “flipped the M” in 5 straight games started by Alcantara.

Don Mattingly’s Postgame Press Conference

Elieser Hernandez will take on Alex Cobb in game 2 Friday night at loanDepot Park. Weather is supposed to be an issue, so give yourself extra time if planning to attend.