MIA 3, LA 10: Even Superman Has His Kryptonite

If the dominoes were ever in place for the Marlins to salvage a game against baseball’s current incarnation of the ‘98 Yankees, the Los Angeles Dodgers, Sunday was that day.

The club had their ace and presumed NL Cy Young frontrunner, Sandy Alcantara, going for them, while the Dodgers countered with Ryan Pepiot, a pitcher with 20 walks in his first 25.1 innings pitched (7.1 BB9).

But as is no rare occurrence brought to us by the baseball gods, the shoe turned out to be on the other foot in a 10-3 Marlins loss as the Dodgers secured their 84th win and a series sweep over Miami.

Alcantara and Pepiot would park in a Sunday Switcheroo, as the Marlins ace authored his shortest and worst outing of the season, going just 3.2 innings, allowing 10 hits and 6 runs, both seasons highs, bumping his ERA from 1.92 to 2.19.

Among the assailants in the assault on Alcantara, 2019 NL MVP Cody Bellinger, did so with a two-run home run in the bottom of the 2nd.

“Their lineup is the biggest struggle. They’re going to make you work...They were really on the fastball all day,” said Don Mattingly.

Pepiot, on the other hand, would strike out a career-high 7 hitters, whilst pitching a career-best 6 innings.

All of the firepower Miami would provide Sunday came thanks to Lewin Díaz and JJ Bleday, who both hit home runs in the losing effort, with Díaz’s 4th inning blast being his first of the season.

Post-script: 52-69.

Looking Ahead

After a tough weekend against baseball’s best, the Marlins will keep on their West Coast trek as they head to Oakland to begin a three-game set against the similarly dismal Athletics. Pablo López (7-8, 3.83 ERA) will look to pick himself up after allowing 6 runs over 4.2 innings against the Padres on August 17th. Oakland will counter with Adam Oller (2-5, 6.63 ERA) with first pitch slated for 9:40 Eastern.

Of Note

• Sandy Alcantara has a career 18.00 ERA in 10 innings pitched (20 ER) in Dodger Stadium, the most among any visiting pitcher with at least 3 starts there since its opening in 1962.
• With his 16th 3-hit game Sunday, Freddie Freeman tied Minnesota’s Luis Arraez for most such games this season.
• Scoring just 3 runs in the loss, the Marlins became the first team since the 1910 Indians to go at least 22 consecutive games of at least 4 runs or less.

Baseball-Savant