MIAMI — Sandy Alcantara had another prototypical ace performance on the mound Wednesday.
He set a career high with 14 strikeouts while allowing just one run over nine innings of work. Eleven of Alcantara’s 58 fastballs hit at least 100 mph, including two pitches that resulted in strikeouts. He topped out at 101.5 mph on a pitch to Dominic Smith in the eighth inning, Alcantara’s 99th pitch of the night, that resulted in a groundout.
And the Marlins capped off the night when Bryan De La Cruz hit a two-out, 10th-inning walk-off single to score Jazz Chisholm Jr. from third base for a 2-1 win over the New York Mets.
The win moves Miami to 58-81 on the season. The Mets fall to 70-70.
Anthony Bender held the Mets scoreless in the top of the 10th to set up the walk off in the bottom half of the inning.
Alcantara, who celebrated his 26th birthday on Tuesday, has now recorded double-digit strikeouts in three of his last four starts — resetting his single-game career-high mark in each of those outings (11 on Aug. 22 against the Cincinnati Reds, 12 against the Reds on Aug. 28 and 14 on Wednesday).
The last Marlins pitcher with at least 14 strikeouts in a game was Dan Straily (April 22, 2017, at the San Diego Padres). The last Marlins pitcher with at least 14 strikeouts at home was Jose Fernandez (Sept. 9, 2016 against the Los Angeles Dodgers).
The lone blemish to his stat line on Wednesday: A solo home run by Michael Conforto in the seventh inning.
Miami scored its first run on an Alex Jackson RBI single in the second that scored De La Cruz, who hit a one-out double earlier in the inning.
