Sandy Alcantara will try to help the visiting Miami Marlins accomplish a rare road-series victory over the Atlanta Braves on Sunday afternoon when he starts the rubber match of the teams’ three-game series.
Miami evened the series on Saturday with a 4-0 win.
The Marlins most recently won a three-game series in Atlanta in April 2022. Miami is 21-49 all-time at Truist Park and have won only three series against the Braves at the venue.
Alcantara (1-0, 3.72 ERA) will be opposed by Atlanta’s Grant Holmes (0-1, 7.20) in a matchup of right-handers.
Alcantara, the National League Cy Young Award winner in 2022, will make his third start since coming back from Tommy John surgery. He beat the New York Mets on Tuesday, marking his first victory since Sept. 3, 2023.
In 13 career starts against the Braves, Alcantara is 4-4 with a 2.94 ERA. He is 2-2 with a 3.45 ERA at Truist Park, where his last victory over Atlanta came on May 28, 2022, when he struck out a career-tying 14 in eight innings.
“Mentally I feel well, also physically,” Alcantara said after allowing two runs on three hits in five innings against the Mets. “There’s some things happening that make me take more time to recover between starts, but like I said before, if I can compete throwing 92-93 (mph), I’ll take it. You just have to thank God for these things that happen.”
The Marlins are being extra cautious with Alcantara. He was lifted after throwing only 70 pitches against the Mets.
“You could tell the guys were still getting jammed on the sinker and we were capping his slider,” catcher Nick Fortes said. “He still had good movement. It’s just the velo wasn’t there.”
Holmes, 29, a rookie last year, will make his third appearance and second start of the season. He lasted four innings in his last outing against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday, giving up four runs on four hits, four walks and three strikeouts.
Holmes does not have a decision and compiled a 5.19 ERA in two previous starts against Miami. He has nine strikeouts in 8 2/3 innings versus the Marlins.
Atlanta, which posted a season-high 10 runs and 16 hits on Friday in a 10-0 victory over Miami, cooled off on Saturday and was shut out for the third time. The Braves managed only seven hits and were 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
“We had opportunities. We couldn’t get a big hit again,” Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said. “Because we could have got a little closer and put a little heat on their bullpen. It might have been a different story.”
Miami’s Matt Mervis went deep twice on Saturday, the first multi-home run game of his career. It was the first home run for Mervis since June 10, 2023, when he played for the Chicago Cubs.
Derek Hill and Kyle Stowers have reached base in six straight games.
Hill went 1-for-4 on Saturday and is batting .273 (6-for-22) with two doubles, one RBI and five runs scored during the stretch. Stowers was 1-for-5 and is batting .286 (6-for-21) with four walks, two RBIs and two runs scored during that time.
–Field Level Media
