MIAMI — Pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. made his way to the mound in the second inning Monday to talk to the Miami Marlins’ ace who was looking very little like the title with which he has been bestowed. Sandy Alcantara was already at 35 pitches, already had to sneak out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam an inning earlier and already had two more runners on base with just one out.
The message the coach relayed to his pitcher worked.
Alcantara retired the next 20 batters he faced and took advantage of pitching with a lead as the Marlins beat the Washington Nationals 8-2 at loanDepot park to begin a three-game series. Miami improves to 16-19, while the Nationals fall to 12-25.
The 26-year-old right-handed pitcher’s final line: Eight innings pitches, one run allowed on three hits and a walk with five strikeouts. Alcantara threw 100 pitches, 71 of which went for strikes.
It marked the second time this season Alcantara has pitched eight innings, matching his season high on April 20 against the St. Louis Cardinals. Alcantara’s 50 2/3 innings pitched through eight starts lead all MLB pitchers.
But early on, it didn’t look like Alcantara was going to get that far or have that much success on Monday.
He gave up hits to three of the first four batters he faced — singles to Cesar Hernandez, Josh Bell and Yadiel Hernandez with a Juan Soto groundout mixed in — to give the Nationals an early 1-0 lead. He then hit Kiebert Ruiz with a pitch to load the bases with one out before getting out of the jam when Brian Anderson fielded Maikel Franco’s weakly hit ground ball and threw home for a force out and then Lane Thomas was called out on strikes to cap a 23-pitch first inning.
In the second, Alcantara got Dee Strange-Gordon to hit into a quick groundout before hitting Victor Robles with a pitch and walking Hernandez and prompting Stottlemyre to make his mound meeting.
Alcantara wouldn’t let another batter reach base.
Soto and Bell both grounded out to end the second, and Alcantara needed just 57 total pitches for his final six innings of work.
The third inning: Two strikeouts and a flyout on nine pitches.
The fourth inning: Three groundouts on five pitches.
The fifth inning: Two groundouts and a flyout on 14 pitches.
The sixth inning: Three groundouts on 10 pitches.
The seventh inning: A groundout, a flyout and a strikeout on 12 pitches.
And the eighth inning: A swinging strikeout, a flyout and a groundout on seven pitches.
The offense gave Alcantara all the run support he needed with a four-run second inning, during which six consecutive Marlins hitters safely reached base.
Avisail Garcia began the rally when he got hold of an Aaron Sanchez 94 mph sinker near the heart of the zone and blasted the ball to center field for a 402-foot, game-tying solo home run.
Brian Anderson followed with a walk. Bryan De La Cruz, starting in center field for Jesus Sanchez, then hit a double to put runners on second and third. Erik Gonzalez, starting at shortstop for Miguel Rojas, drove both in with a single up the middle to give Miami its first lead of the game at 3-1. Gonzalez then moved to third on a Jacob Stallings double and scored on a Jazz Chisholm Jr. single.
Miami then tacked on four more runs in the seventh.
The Marlins had the bases loaded after three consecutive singles from Stallings, Chisholm and Jesus Aguilar. All three scored on a hard-hit Jorge Soler groundball that bounced past Dee Strange-Gordon and into left field that drove in Stallings and Chisholm before a pair of defensive errors — first by Nationals left fielder Thomas on a throw home and then by relief pitcher Victor Arano on a throw to second base — allowed Aguilar to score and Soler to get to third bases. Garcia then drove in Soler with an RBI single.
Anthony Bass gave up a run on two hits and an error in the ninth.
