MIA 0, ARI 5: Bats Lay 9 Goose Eggs

The 15,314 fans in attendance at loanDepot Park Sunday were greeted with a marquee pitching matchup as the Miami Marlins looked for their first series sweep of the season versus the Arizona Diamondbacks.

On the mound for Miami, Sandy Alcantara, the reigning Cy Young Award winner in the National League. Arizona countered with their respective ace, Zac Gallen, himself a 5th-place finisher in said voting the previous season in what one may call a battle of Cy-Now against Cy-Later.

Ultimately, the latter in Gallen would have the final say, shutting down the Fish to the tune of just 2 hits over 6.2 scoreless, striking out 7 en route to a 5-0 Diamondbacks victory, snapping Miami’s 4-game winning streak. Gallen started the afternoon retiring the first 13 Marlins in order before surrendering a Bryan De La Cruz single with one out in the bottom of the 5th.

As for Alcantara, though he didn’t pitch as poorly as he did in Philadelphia on April 10th, an outing where he surrendered 9 runs and posted a mere 11-game score over 4 innings, the final line made his second consecutive poor outing.

Allowing 5 runs (4 earned) over his 6 innings pitched, Alcantara’s ERA sits at 5.84 through his first 4 starts. As far as silver linings go, the outing marked Alcantara’s first this season where he didn’t allow a walk, and the right-hander managed a season-high 9 strikeouts.

Following an RBI single to Alek Thomas, the Marlins ace settled into a groove. Sandy picked off Thomas to end the 2nd, then held Arizona off the scoreboard for the next 3 innings.

Then, came the top of the 6th that commenced with a fielding error on Alcantara - one he’d take accountability for following the game - following a Josh Rojas groundball to first baseman Garrett Cooper.

“I always get mad,” said Alcantara. “I just want to make that play at first base. You know, it was a nice play by (Garrett) Cooper, but not by me.”

Pavin Smith, who had previously doubled in the 1st, brought Rojas - this time at 2nd following the error - on an RBI-single. Smith would later come home to score on a Christian Walker double.

The game’s coup de grace, though, came one batter later when Corbin Carroll (#2 prospect ahead of the 2023 season), sent a 97.8 mph sinker 414 feet over the center field wall for his 4th home run of the season.

George Soriano provided a bit of feel-good nature to the otherwise dismal afternoon of Miami baseball Sunday, authoring 3 scoreless innings in his Major League debut.

“It felt so good. I had a lot of adrenaline out there,” said Soriano, rather soft-spokenly.

With the loss, Miami fall back to .500 at 8-8, sporting a -26 run differential.

Of Note

• Going until their 16th game of the season before experiencing their first shutout, this made for the latest the Marlins have started a season without being held scoreless since 2017. That team plated runs in their first 21 contests before falling 4-0 to the Phillies on April 29.
• Right fielder Avisaíl García had to exit Sunday’s game following a pitch that hit his right wrist. It was later reported to be a right-wrist contusion with the X-rays coming back negative. García, in his second year of a four-year/$53M deal, has hit .162 in 41 plate appearances.
• Soriano became the first pitcher since Trevor Rogers on 8/25/20 to toss at least 3 scoreless innings in his Major League debut.

Baseball-Savant

Skip Schumaker’s Postgame Press Conference

Looking Ahead

• Miami will continue their homestand Monday when they welcome another NL West team, the San Francisco Giants for a three-game series. Game 1 will see Jesús Luzardo (2-0, 1.93 ERA) vying for his 3rd consecutive win. In his last outing on April 11 in Philadelphia, the left-hander allowed 3 runs over 6 innings in an 8-4 Miami win over the Phillies. First pitch Monday is slated for 6:40 Eastern.