SAN FRANCISCO
The Miami Marlins had just taken the lead in the top of the sixth inning on Friday. Momentum was shifting in their favor as they began a three-game series with the San Francisco Giants to start a 10-game, three-city road trip.
It didn’t take long for the Marlins to give the momentum right back.
The Giants scored three runs and chased starter Sandy Alcantara in the home half of the sixth to take a lead they wouldn’t relinquish as the Marlins lost 4-3 at Oracle Park.
“I’m tired of letting that [expletive] happen to me consistently,” a frustrated Alcantara said postgame. “[I’ve] just got to find a way to be more aggressive every time I get a lead. I think I just feel a little bit comfortable when my team gives me the lead.”
Miami falls to 23-22 on the season, had its four-game win streak snapped and for just the second time this season lost a game decided by one run. The Giants improve to 21-23.
A rundown of that bottom of the sixth, which started with the Marlins holding a 2-1 lead:
LaMonte Wade Jr. led off the frame by drawing a seven-pitch walk.
Thairo Estrada tapped a first-pitch changeup back toward the mound. Alcantara scooped up the ball and, trying to make a play, fired an errant throw to first baseman Garrett Cooper. Wade reached third. Estrada got to second. The ruling: A single plus a throwing error.
“I know what kind of arm I have,” Alcantara said. “I just threw it away.”
J.D. Davis and Michael Conforto then hit back-to-back sacrifice flies to score Wade and Estrada to give the Giants a 3-2 lead but cleared the bases and put two outs on the board.
Alcantara, at this point, needed just one more out to limit the damage.
He didn’t get it.
Mitch Haniger kept the Giants’ rally going with a single that bounced off the end of Jean Segura’s glove as Segura leapt to his left attempting to make the inning-ended play. Mike Yastrzemski followed with a walk before Casey Schmitt hit an RBI single through the left side to give San Francisco an insurance run and chase Alcantara after 100 pitches.
So, to recap: Alcantara faced seven batters in the sixth inning, giving up three hits, two walks and two sacrifice flies. Everyone he faced in that frame either reached base or drove in a run.
“You’re not perfect,” Alcantara said. “The game is 27 outs. You can’t feel comfortable when you take the mound or when you step in the box. We just got to believe and have more opportunities to do my best.”
All of that damage came the third time he faced the Giants’ lineup, continuing a rough trend for Alcantara early this season.
Alcantara entered Friday with a .295 batting average against and .925 on-base-plus-slugging against the third time through the order.
For comparison, Alcantara held opponents to a .239 batting average and .638 OPS against the third time through the order last year en route to winning the National League Cy Young Award in unanimous fashion.
Through the first five innings Friday (and first two times against the Giants’ lineup), Alcantara held San Francisco to one run on two hits — a fourth-inning Haniger RBI double that scored Conforto, who singled one at-bat earlier.
“I know he’s frustrated,” catcher Jacob Stallings said. “I’m frustrated for him. Feels like he continues to throw the ball well and gets tagged for more runs than he probably deserves. I thought he threw the ball well tonight, really well.”
Bryan De La Cruz drove in all three of the Marlins’ runs, first with a two-run double in the sixth that scored Jorge Soler and Luis Arraez and then with a solo home run in the eighth. De La Cruz is on a career-long 13-game hit streak.
This story was originally published May 20, 2023 12:43 AM.
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