Ace Alcantara still K's 10 in 'average' start

PITTSBURGH -- It wasn’t easy, but the Marlins squeaked out a 6-5 win in 10 innings over the Pirates on Saturday at PNC Park for their first series win of the second half.

Bunts, debuts, homers, errors -- the game had its share of all of them. But tucked inside it were a few notable performances. Here are three takeaways from a breath of relief for Miami.

Alcantara’s average is better than average
Sandy Alcantara’s start featured more struggles than he’s seen in his past couple of months, but his standards have been above and beyond the vast majority of Major League pitchers this season.

The staff ace went six innings, ending a streak of 13 starts of seven innings or more. Hurting his ability to go deeper were three walks, the most he’d issued since June 13, and he also hit a batter for the first time since May 28.

But a Sandy Alcantara without his Cy Young Award-level polish is still a very effective starter. He struck out 10 batters while allowing only two hits, one of which was a homer by Oneil Cruz in a seven-pitch at-bat.

“I just want to be able to be [pitching] every fifth day, just competing for my team, fighting for my team,” Alcantara said. “It doesn’t matter -- strikeout, walk, any kind of situation -- I just want to be able to go outside and fight for my team.”

The Marlins’ defense picked him up, too. With the lead on the line with two outs and a runner on third in the sixth, Alcantara got a boost from first baseman Jesús Aguilar, who made a rolling snag and throw to end the threat for the righty’s final out of the game.

“It was a big play for us in that spot,” manager Don Mattingly said. “For him to throw from his back and Sandy to be there to get us out of that spot with the lead was important.”

Bleday’s big day
JJ Bleday, who walked in his first Major League plate appearance Saturday, seemed to have grounded out in his first at-bat as a starter.

The center fielder hit a grounder to Cruz, who has broken the Statcast record for the fastest-thrown infield assist in his rookie season. But with the Pirates shortstop ranging to his right, putting him farther from first, Bleday turned on the jets to hit a 29 ft/sec sprint speed and record his first MLB hit.

“I saw where it was and realized I had a chance to beat that out,” Bleday said. “And I was just going to take advantage of it and run as hard as I could.”

In front of a crowd of what Bleday said was about 60 family members and friends from his hometown of Titusville, Pa., he produced again in the ninth inning, hitting a two-out double to the gap in right-center field with an exit velocity of 107.6 mph. His dash home on Bryan De La Cruz’s RBI single kept the Marlins from being walked off in the ninth and sent the game to extras.

The key to overcoming the nerves and being productive all day? Treating it like he was just playing another game at Triple-A.

“It’s the same game up here,” Bleday said. “It might be a little quicker, but I felt good. I felt satisfied with those ABs today.”

Brigham’s big inning
It had been almost two years to the day since right-hander Jeff Brigham had pitched in a big league game.

Brigham last threw on July 26, 2020, then spent the next two years trying to deal with a nerve issue in his right biceps. It wasn’t certain that he’d ever make it back to the mound.

“I had probably a dozen talks over the past two years with the doctor where it was like, baseball is probably not going to be it for me,” Brigham said. “We’re going to work hard, but there’s a good chance it’s not going to happen.”

Yet with the Marlins up by two in the 10th inning and the bullpen taxed by carrying 7 1/3 innings Saturday, out came Brigham from the visiting bullpen. His velocities were back to around his former numbers, he got two quick outs and despite allowing the tying run to reach third, he struck out Greg Allen in a full count and gave a yell in celebration of his long-awaited return.

“Yeah, I didn’t really get to smell the roses too much, coming in in that situation,” Brigham said. “But coming in and being able to have an impact on this team winning a ballgame definitely made it more special.”