MIAMI _ This was the Sandy Alcantara the Miami Marlins want to see.
On the attack. Pounding the strike zone. Getting ahead in counts. Forcing soft contact. Showcasing his talent from the start.
And fortunately for Alcantara, the Marlins' offense found just enough life at just the right time against the Atlanta Braves on Saturday night.
The Marlins used a four-run ninth inning to force extra innings and Martin Prado sealed the come-from-behind win with a walk-off sacrifice fly to score Harold Ramirez for the 7-6, 10-inning win. All 13 runs were scored after the seventh inning.
The Marlins (44-72) have won two of three against the Braves (69-50) and can take the four-game series with a win in Sunday's 1:10 p.m. finale.
Ramirez led off with a single and reached third on a failed pickoff attempt by Sean Newcomb.
The Braves did all their damage on Alcantara with two outs in the eighth inning. Alcantara had Charlie Culberson on second base following a single and Ronald Acuna Jr on first after an intentional walk.
On his seventh pitch of the at-bat _ and 106th and final pitch of the night _ Albies hit a shallow line drive past shortstop Deven Marrero for an RBI double to score Culberson and break open a scoreless tie.
Albies and Acuna scored on a first-pitch single by Freddie Freeman off reliever Jarlin Garcia. Both runs were charged to Alcantara since he put them on base.
Johan Camargo gave the Braves breathing room with a two-out, pinch-hit, three-run home run in the ninth off Ryne Stanek, who walked Brian McCann and Ender Inciarte earlier in the inning and gave up four total walks before being pulled for Jose Quijada after recording just two outs.
The Marlins, who only had four hits and two runners make it to scoring position through the first seven innings against Braves starter Mike Soroka, then attempted to rally against Atlanta's bullpen. Curtis Granderson belted a one-out, pinch-hit home run to avoid the shutout. Jon Berti singled and Isan Diaz walked before Starlin Castro flew out to right field for the second out. Brian Anderson's RBI single got the Marlins within one run, but Garrett Cooper struck out swinging to end the frame before Camargo's home run set the Braves up for their second consecutive win.
Martin Prado, Bryan Holaday and Granderson each hit one-out singles in the ninth to load the bases and bring the tying run to the plate.
Berti then hit a single to center to bring home Prado and cut the deficit to 6-3.
Diaz hit a single off shortstop Charlie Culberson's glove to bring home Holaday and make the score 6-4.
Castro hit a two-run, game-tying double that scored Granderson and Berti. Diaz was thrown out trying to make it from first to home and the score was tied at 6.
Anderson walked before Cooper grounded out to force extra innings, where Prado and Ramirez ultimately sealed it.
It salvaged was a needed turning of the page for Alcantara, who had struggled over the past month. The hard-throwing 23-year-old righty had given up 21 earned runs over 26 2/3 innings _ good for a 7.09 ERA _ over his first five starts since playing in the All-Star Game. He gave up four earned runs or more in three of those starts and didn't make it past the sixth inning in any of the outings.
On Saturday, Alcantara returned to form.
A nine-pitch first inning set the tone. He allowed no more than one baserunner in each of the next six innings.
It was reminiscent of his eight shutout innings against the Colorado Rockies in his first start of season, or his complete-game shutout against the New York Mets back on May 19, or his 7 2/3 dominant innings against the Philadelphia Phillies on June 21 _ the type of outings that show why he was selected to be the Marlins' All-Star representative this year.
And, at the very end, he got just enough help for the Marlins to leave the ballpark with a win.
