Marlins Sandy Alcantara Opens Series With Nationals

The Miami Marlins will send rookie pitcher Sandy Alcantara to the mound for the team’s final road trip of the season. Miami faces the Washington Nationals in a three-game series.

It would appear every time to turn around, the Miami Marlins and Washington Nationals are facing each other. The three-game series the two teams begin tonight will be the last of the 2018 season. Miami sends rookie Sandy Alcantara to the mound.

While the Nationals are 78-78 for the season and hoping to finish above .500, the Marlins are riding a three-game win streak

Alcantara hopes this time out, he will last a bit longer in the game and be on the winning end instead of suffering his second straight loss. He is walking into a situation where the last three starters – Wei-Yin Chen, Jose Urena, and rookie Trevor Richards – all pitched about as well as the organization could have asked for to close out the team’s final homestand of the year.

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The Marlins were 28-25 at Marlins Park after June 8.

For the season, Alcantara is 2-1 with a 2.35 ERA and 17 strikeouts. In his first loss of the season, he gave up three earned runs and six hits in four innings. He also walked six batters.

If there is one part of his game that still needs refinement, it’s his control.

He still reached over 95 mph with his fastball, but his mechanics are still raw.

The Nationals once again send Stephen Strasburg to the mound to face a Marlins team he is familiar with. In his last five MLB starts, he is 3-0 with a 2.64 ERA and 38 strikeouts. In four of his last five outings, he has pitched six innings for Washington.

Alcantara could get one more start this season. The 22-year-old is one of the bright spots of a Marlins pitching staff that used rookies interchangeably this season.

He spent most of the first half of the season at Triple-A New Orleans, working on his consistency on the mound.

He is still considered the organization’s top pitching prospect and the No. 2 overall prospect in Miami’s farm system, according to MLB Pipeline.

Alcantara was part of the trade that sent All-Star outfielder Marcell Ozuna to the St. Louis Cardinals prior to Spring Training.

The youngster is part of a rebuilding process by the Marlins to build solid pitching through the minor league system. He, Richards and Pablo Lopez figure to be part of a youthful rotation next season.