Sandy Alcantara returns to mound, but Miami Marlins fall to Atlanta Braves
For the first time in 10 days, Sandy Alcantara returned to the mound.
And after a pair of rough starts before that, the Miami Marlins’ pitcher returned to his ace-like self for his first five innings before running into trouble in the sixth.
Alcantara’s troubles at the end of his outing seeped to the rest of the Marlins in their eventual 6-4 loss to the Braves at Truist Park on Wednesday. Miami has now lost four consecutive games and falls to 12-13 on the season, while Atlanta improves to 17-8.
The Braves took the lead for good with a four-run eighth inning against reliever Dylan Floro, who had not given up a run over 10 1/3 innings this season entering Wednesday.
Alcantara, who had his scheduled start Saturday in Cleveland skipped while he dealt with mild right biceps tendinitis, cruised through his first five innings. He held the Braves scoreless while needing just 67 pitches for those 15 outs. Only two Braves reached base in that span, with Ozzie Albies hitting a two-out single in the second and Ronald Acuna Jr. drawing a two-out walk in the third. Miami built a four-run lead in this span.
But then Acuna ambushed Alcantara’s first pitch in the sixth inning, sending a near middle-middle sinker a projected 442 feet to left-center field to break up Alcantara’s early shutout bid.
Alcantara then struck out Matt Olson before giving up a one-out double to Austin Riley and walking Eddie Rosario and Albies back-to-back with two outs to load the bases and prompt manager Skip Schumaker to take his ace out of the game.
Huascar Brazoban entered in relief for Alcantara and limited the damage to just one more run on a Vaughn Grissom RBI single to left, with Avisail Garcia throwing out Rosario at home to end the inning.
Brazoban tossed a scoreless seventh before the Marlins completely unraveled in the eighth. Matt Olson led off the frame with a solo home run to right before Sean Murphy hit an infield single and scored on a Rosario triple that skipped past first baseman Garrett Cooper and into right field to tie the score.
Miami then intentionally walked Albies before Grissom put the Braves ahead with an RBI single to right. Marcell Ozuna then hit a groundball to the mound, but Floro’s errant throw home allowed Albies to score and give the Braves an insurance run.
All of this happened after the Marlins built a 4-0 lead via solo home runs from Jesus Sanchez in the second inning, Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the third and Garcia in the fourth as well as a Jon Berti bases-loaded walk in the sixth.
Joey Wendle heading to rehab assignment
Marlins infielder Joey Wendle, who has been sidelined since April 3 with a right intercostal strain, is scheduled to begin a rehab assignment with Triple A Jacksonville on Thursday.
Schumaker said the anticipation is Wendle will need “about five-ish games” before potentially returning. When factoring in scheduled off days during the rehab stint and the fact that the minor leagues are off every Monday, the earliest Wendle would likely return is at the end of Miami’s next homestand — which runs from Friday to May 4 — or the start of their next road trip, which begins May 5 in Chicago against the Cubs.
“Some guys need 10-15 at-bats. Some guys need 20-25 at-bats,” Schumaker said. “Just making sure his legs are underneath him. It’s not just the oblique. His timing and swing needs to be right and defensively, as well. When he’s ready to roll, then we’ll activate him.”
In Wendle’s absence, Jon Berti and Garrett Hampson have taken all the reps at shortstop.
