2-out pitch costly for contending Marlins

Sandy Alcantara threw 24 pitches in a stressful sixth inning on Tuesday night. The one the 25-year-old right-hander wishes he could have back is the 96.8 mph four-seamer that Jackie Bradley Jr. took the other way for an RBI double.

Bradley’s big two-out hit broke a scoreless tie and did some damage to Miami’s postseason push, as the Red Sox blanked the Marlins, 2-0, at Marlins Park.

• Box score

“That pitch to Bradley, it looked like he was trying to get it up and away on him,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “He just didn't get it there. Bradley kind of beat him to the spot right there.”

With the loss, the Marlins (24-22) are now a half-game in front of the Phillies for second place in the National League East. Philadelphia beat the Mets, 4-1. The first-place Braves also won, so the Marlins are again 3 1/2 back with 14 games remaining.

The Red Sox snapped Miami’s three-game winning streak and logged just their second shutout of the season.

“We are fighting,” Alcantara said. “I think everybody is doing a great job, the starting pitchers, too. The bullpen, too. We've got to keep doing that. We lost today, but we've got to win tomorrow.”

For the most part, Alcantara did his part, holding the Red Sox in check by limiting them to one run on five hits in six innings. A two-out walk to Christian Vázquez put the Miami ace in a bind, because it placed runners on first and second.

On a 2-2 offering to Bradley, Alcantara went with a fastball away that was laced to left field, producing the game’s first run.

Alcantara and catcher Jorge Alfaro started off Bradley by working pitches to both sides of the plate. Alcantara evened the count at 2 with a called strike, up and away.

“Me and Jorge, we were working on the sequences with him,” Alcantara said. “I tried to be up and down, but my last pitch to him, I think he made a really good adjustment to my fastball up. That's something that happened in the game. I can't control that.”

Bradley has a .946 OPS with three homers and seven RBIs in September.

"Jackie's in one of those things where he's good for the rest of the season,” Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke said. “This is what we saw the second half last year, the year before. He's hitting the ball the other way. He's getting big hits for us.”

In the eighth inning, Vázquez golfed a James Hoyt slider into center for an RBI single, giving Boston an insurance run.

Ryne Stanek prevented more damage in the inning with two strikeouts, and rookie Johan Quezada, making his second big league appearance, worked a scoreless ninth. He also recorded his first MLB strikeout.

“They've got a good offensive club over there,” Mattingly said. “Sandy is going to give up some hits. When you give up one run through six innings, you feel pretty good about it. I thought he was pretty good all night, honestly.”

The Marlins, upbeat after taking five of seven from the Phillies, were unable to generate much offense off right-hander Tanner Houck, who made his MLB debut.

Corey Dickerson recorded one of two hits allowed by Houck, a leadoff single in the first. But he was thrown out trying to stretch it to a double.

In the eighth inning, Jazz Chisholm Jr. nearly sparked a potential rally when he ripped an opposite-field fly ball to deep left field. But Yairo Muñoz made a leaping catch on the warning track before crashing into the wall. The expected batting average on the 101.4 mph liner was .720.

“Obviously, that's leading off the inning,” Mattingly said. “You never know what happens. I'd be guessing. But it is a play that changes the momentum. Instead of being a double and possibly being a triple, it ends up being a really nice play. You've got nothing going and an out.”