The Miami Marlins are aiming to finish their 10-game homestand with a victory as they face the Washington Nationals in the rubber match of their three-game series on Sunday.
After splitting the opening two games, Miami holds a 3-6 record on the homestand, which started with series losses to the Philadelphia Phillies and Baltimore Orioles.
Sunday’s pitching matchup features Washington’s Cade Cavalli (1-2, 4.15 ERA) taking on Miami’s right-hander Sandy Alcantara (3-2, 4.01 ERA).
Alcantara, 30, appeared to be rediscovering the form that earned him the Cy Young Award in 2022, as he allowed three earned runs or fewer in three consecutive starts. However, he struggled in his most recent outing Tuesday against the Orioles, surrendering seven runs on eight hits over 4 1/3 innings in a no-decision, which pushed his ERA up by nearly a full run.
“Pitch count ran up, Pete (Alonso) hooks the ball down the line for a couple of runs, and we had some trouble handling it down there,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “We got another guy to third base, and there were times today when he had counts in his favor but just didn’t execute well enough with two strikes.”
Despite that outing, Alcantara remains one of the most sought-after players ahead of the trade deadline. He holds an 8-6 record and a 3.58 ERA in 16 career starts against the Nationals.
Cavalli, 27, closed April with a couple of strong performances but encountered difficulties in his first May start, allowing six runs (three earned) over four innings in a loss to the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday. A fielding error contributed to his tough night. He gave up five hits and walked three.
“I felt great all night, that’s the thing,” Cavalli said. “It’s not like I was erratic, throwing crazy pitches. It was competitive, and just untimely hits. That’s baseball, and I’m going to get back to work and get ready to go on day five.”
Cavalli is 2-0 with a 3.60 ERA in two career starts versus Miami.
Cavalli will face a challenge if the Marlins can replicate their offensive performance from Saturday. Miami fell behind 4-0, then scored eight unanswered runs before holding on for an 8-7 win in the ninth inning.
Jakob Marsee delivered a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to put the Marlins up 7-4. Xavier Edwards tied the game 4-4 in the seventh with his second home run in as many days. Kyle Stowers recorded three hits, including a home run.
“Some really good at-bats. Some slug. Come back in a game we were down to start with,” McCullough said. “Offensively, this is probably one of our best performances on this homestand and in a while.”
For Washington, Luis Garcia Jr. had three hits, and James Wood homered and doubled. The Nationals had won three straight and got the tying run on base during a three-run ninth inning.
“This group, what they’ve done all year to this point is they continue to fight, they continue to have good at-bats,” Nationals manager Blake Butera said. “They never feel like they’re out of it, even when you get a gut punch like we did that inning before.”
