Marlins try to end losing streak against the Cardinals

The Miami Marlins will try to end a five-game losing streak on Tuesday when they face the St. Louis Cardinals in the second game of a three-game set.

The Miami Marlins will send Elieser Hernandez to the mound on Tuesday when the team tries to end a five-game losing streak in the second of a three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals.

The 4-1 loss by the Marlins at the hands of St. Louis wasn’t the outcome the team hoped for with former Cardinals pitcher Sandy Alcantara. Once again, the Marlins bats couldn’t muster consistency and the starting pitcher who was once regarded as the top prospect in Miami’s minor league system was erratic.

The up and down season for Alcantara is something that continues to draw criticism from Marlins manager Don Mattingly, who told the media after the game he thought his No. 4 starter should have been more aggressive. When Alcantara, who came over in the deal that sent outfielder Marcell Ozuna to St. Louis, is on his game, he is as dominant as any pitcher in the National League.

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Getting that kind of performance out of the 23-year-old has been more about hold-your-breath-moments.

“It’s what we talk about with Sandy,” Mattingly said. “The days he comes out aggressive, on the attack — his stuff — he’s a No. 1. Then you see a game like this, and you feel like, ‘OK, we’re not there yet.’ You see a couple of good ones, and then you see this one. It’s like, you don’t quite know what he’s thinking. Where did the aggression go?”

While the focus locally was on Alcantara and his start, Ozuna did some damage of his own against his former team.

Per Joe Frisaro of MLB.com, “In the fourth inning, Ozuna doubled and scored the first run on Yairo Munoz’s two-out double. And in the sixth inning, Alcantara surrendered three runs, none of them earned, because catcher Jorge Alfaro made a throwing error on Kolten Wong’s sacrifice bunt. “After the throw sailed down the right-field line, two Cardinals scored — Paul Goldschmidt (who singled) and Ozuna (who walked).”

The team hopes for better results tonight with Hernandez on the mound to face the Cardinals and Dakota Hudson, their starter. Hernandez replaces Caleb Smith in the rotation as the lefty deals with inflammation in his hip.

Hernandez has been floating between Triple-A New Orleans and the Marlins main roster this season. Over nine starts for the Baby Cakes he was 3-1 with a 1.13 ERA. Hernandez has six career starts in a Marlins uniform, posting a 5.04 ERA.