ATLANTA — For the first time this season and just the fourth time in his MLB career, Sandy Alcantara gave up three home runs in a game on Friday as the Miami Marlins lost, 8-1, to the Atlanta Braves to begin a three-game series at Truist Park.
The Marlins fall to 55-76. Atlanta improves to 82-51.
All three home runs Alcantara gave up were two-run shots. Travis d’Arnaud hit an elevated slider 402 feet to left-center field with two outs in the fourth inning to break up a shutout and give Atlanta an early 2-1 lead. After Alcantara gave up a single to Michael Harris II on the next at-bat, Vaughn Grissom hit Atlanta’s second home run of the inning by taking a middle-in four-seam fastball 409 feet to left-center to put the Braves up 4-1.
And then in the sixth, Harris followed a d’Arnaud hit by pitch to lead off the inning by sending a middle-down slider 436 feet to right-center.
It’s the first time Alcantara has given up three home runs in a game since his nightmare of a game against the Colorado Rockies on Aug. 6, 2021, when he gave up 10 earned runs in 3 2/3 innings.
Entering Friday, Alcantara had allowed just 10 home runs through his first 26 starts of the season.
Jerar Encarnacion scored the Marlins’ only run with a leadoff solo home run against Charlie Morton in the third inning.
Austin Riley and d’Arnaud added solo home runs for the Braves in the seventh against Cole Sulser to cap scoring.
Evaluating Alcantara’s Cy Young case
After giving up six earned runs in two of his last three starts (the other was six-run outing over 3 2/3 innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers) with a complete game, one-run outing (also against the Dodgers) sandwiched between, Alcantara’s ERA has jumped to 2.36. That is still the second-best mark in the National League behind only the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Julio Urias.
Alcantara still leads all of baseball with 190 2/3 innings pitched, 51 more than Urias (139 2/3) and is the only pitcher in the league with four complete games. His 1.00 WHIP and .209 batting average against both rank ninth among all qualified starting pitchers.
