Lack of run support sinks Marlins behind frustrated Sandy

SAN DIEGO -- Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara is as calm, cool and collected as they come.

But upon his return to the dugout after being chased in the Marlins’ 4-0 loss to the Padres on Wednesday afternoon at Petco Park, Alcantara exhibited a rare display of emotion. He smashed a nearby cooler and buckets of sunflower seeds and gum with his glove before throwing his glove and cap in frustration.

“[I was frustrated] about everything,” said Alcantara, whose 3.26 runs of support per nine innings as a starter from 2018-22 were the lowest among 169 pitchers with at least 50 starts. “No run support; walked people. Homer. Other stuff. I just got my mind a little bit hard out there and tried to hit everything I've got in front of me. But that happens. I've just got to keep believing in myself and keep doing my best.”

Miami (65-63) boarded its cross-country flight home having gone 2-4 on its West Coast trip through Los Angeles and San Diego. Since the second half began, the Marlins have not had a winning streak longer than three games and they have won back-to-back contests just three times since the All-Star break.

Miami’s four-game cushion in the National League Wild Card race has turned into a 1 1/2-game deficit for the third WC spot, behind Arizona (66-61), San Francisco (66-61) and Cincinnati (67-61). The Marlins have 34 games remaining.

If it comes down to a tiebreaker to determine a Wild Card spot, it first goes to head-to-head matchups, then to divisional records. The Marlins lost their season series vs. the Padres (4-2), but won over the D-backs (4-2) and split their series with the Giants (3-3) and Reds (3-3).

Entering the series finale, Alcantara looked like the same pitcher who ran away with the 2022 NL Cy Young Award. Over his prior eight starts, he had posted a 2.54 ERA with two complete games. Though Alcantara surrendered three homers to the Dodgers to open the trip, he still recorded a quality start against the NL’s second-best team.

San Diego captured a first-inning lead when Juan Soto hit an RBI single with the infield drawn in. But that was it until the sixth inning, as Alcantara traded zeros with Padres righty Seth Lugo before Xander Bogaerts took Alcantara deep to center following a one-out walk to Manny Machado. Alcantara was then chased in the seventh after Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a two-out RBI single.

“Sandy's frustrated when he gives up runs,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “That's why he's frustrated. This is a high-intense game against a really good team, [and] we have only 30-plus games left, and he wants to win every single one of them. Of course he's frustrated.

“There's a lot of guys frustrated, so it's not just Sandy. There's guys that were upset that just are showing it underneath in the tunnel, so it's not outside in the dugout that most people can see. I've got no problem with guys being frustrated. It shows you they care, and he cares. If he just sat down and didn't care, then we'd have a problem, but he cares.”

The Marlins can’t blame the starting pitching, which recorded quality starts in four of the six road games. The issue was the offense.

Since they scored 11 runs to snap the Dodgers’ 11-game winning streak to open the trip on Friday, the Marlins have tallied a combined seven runs in five games. According to Schumaker, Miami's batters got away from their game plan -- particularly on Wednesday, when they were swinging at curveballs in hitter’s counts.

“We've got to put more runs across to help out our pitchers,” Schumaker said. “Our pitchers did a really good job in my opinion, besides maybe the first game here. But I thought our pitchers were on the attack and did enough for us to win the game. But we've got to string better at-bats together, especially today.”

Miami stranded eight runners on base and went hitless in five at-bats with runners in scoring position. The Marlins loaded the bases with one out in the ninth against closer Josh Hader, only to strike out in the next two at-bats for their ninth shutout of the season.

“Just focus,” said Joey Wendle, who reached the postseason from 2019-21 with the Rays. “Every game counts, every pitch, every inning. It all matters. You never know what game is going to be the one that makes a difference. And to that tune, you never know what hit, what pitch, what run is going to make the difference for you.

"Just continue competing and continue just kind of [that] nose-to-the grindstone mentality like we are. We are right in the thick of it, and we know how we're capable of playing, and we need to come out and do that, more times than not, from here on out.”