The Marlins and Sandy Alcantara go for the series win against the Mets

Can Sandy Alcantara move on from his solid performance at the All-Star Game this past week and win his first game back on the mound for the Marlins?

Now that Sandy Alcantara has experienced the high point of his career at the All-Star game this past week, can the right-hander step on the mound and win his first start for the Marlins in the second half of the season?

Jacob deGrom, who was Alcantara’s teammate for the National League in the Midsummer Classic, will take the mound for the New York Mets. Both pitchers hope to use the break from the regular season as a springboard to a better record.

Alcantara pitched a scoreless eighth inning on Monday night. It was against the Mets he threw Miami’s only complete game of the season on May 19. He was brilliant that afternoon, allowing just two hits in the victory.

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Currently, Alcantara is 4-8 with a 3.82 ERA and 70 strikeouts. deGrom hasn’t fared much better with a 4-7 record, but the right-hander has thrown 138 strikeouts and has a 3.27 ERA for the season. He has one win in his previous 10 starts. He does have a 3.29 ERA in that time period.

The Marlins lost the second game of the series last night, 4-2 at Marlins Park. Miami is back in action at 1:10 PM today and looks to win their first series of the second half of the season. The Marlins and Caleb Smith won the first game against the Mets, 8-4

In other news: Miami’s top minor league prospect wasn’t dominant in a win for the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, but he did prove to be proficient.

"Per our own Kevin Kraczkowski of Marlin Maniac, “The Jumbo Shrimp topped the M-Braves by a 7-2 count with 6,764 present at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville. Sixto Sanchez (4-4, 3.73) earned the win with four K’s and two runs allowed over seven innings. He gave up five hits and a walk. Dylan Lee closed it out in a non-save situation, giving up a hit in two innings.”"

It is this kind of effort the organization needs to see from their future ace. While Sanchez has a fastball that has been clocked at 99 MPH with consistency, he was able to use other pitches to confuse the Mississippi Braves at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.