Clean-shaven Sandy finds form in Marlins comeback

CHICAGO -- Earlier this week the day after yet another befuddling start to his season, Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara showed up with a noticeably trimmed beard.

“Just trying to do something different,” Alcantara said on Saturday. “I did it last year -- I shaved it down last year. So this year, I’m just trying to do something different. Maybe I'm going to have luck today, and you guys see what I did.”

Alcantara delivered seven strong innings, surrendering just an ambushed first-pitch homer to Andrew Vaughn in the fourth. Thanks to an improbable five-run ninth-inning rally by the Marlins, Alcantara went from a tough-luck loser to earning the no-decision in a 5-1 victory over the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field.

The reigning National League Cy Young Award winner allowed just three hits, including the homer, with two walks and four strikeouts. He was a ground ball machine, inducing a season-high 12. Entering Saturday, his ground-ball rate in 2023 (45.5%) was well below his ‘22 mark (53.4%).

Most importantly, Alcantara avoided his season-long trend of falling victim to a big inning. In his previous start on Sunday against the A’s, the one that led to shaving his beard, Alcantara was perfect across seven frames -- outside of a five-run third.

“He gave up a solo home run,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “I can deal with the solo home run all day long. Got a lot of ground balls today. The defense played excellent for seven innings of his outing. A lot of two-seamers. I thought his changeup was really good today. Slider had some more movement and depth. Besides maybe a couple walks that he wants to have back, he pitched really, really well and kind of vintage Sandy.”

Miami’s defense showed up from the get-go for Alcantara, as Joey Wendle dove to his right deep into short and fired to first from one knee to record the final out of the first with a runner on base. Playing center field for the first time this season, Jesús Sánchez recovered after a bad read to make a diving catch for the first out of the fourth that followed Vaughn’s homer.

When Alcantara walked Andrew Benintendi to open the sixth, Jacob Stallings caught him stealing. Stallings entered Saturday throwing out just 10% of would-be basestealers, a season-long issue for Miami’s backstops because of the pitching staff’s inability to hold runners. Alcantara, for example, has given up 11 steals -- tied for eighth most in the Majors. And third baseman Jean Segura showed range to his left and executed a spin throw for the second out of the seventh.

“You have to be prepared with Sandy,” said Segura, whose two-run double in the ninth added insurance. “Sandy is one of those guys that attacks the zone. With his sinker, a lot of people are going to hit a lot of ground balls. As an infielder, when you've got your ace on the mound, you have to be ready on every pitch.”

Prior to the ninth-inning rally, the Marlins had stranded 11 batters and had gone 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position. They seemed destined to score just one combined run in the first two games of their three-city road trip.

Instead, Garrett Cooper led off with a pinch-hit single against righty Joe Kelly hours after an MRI and X-rays came back negative on his left elbow. Luis Arraez followed with his second hit of the game to bump his average to .402, and Jorge Soler walked to load the bases.

Bryan De La Cruz then reached on a fielding error by shortstop Tim Anderson, scoring the tying run and keeping the bases loaded. Sánchez worked a nine-pitch plate appearance that culminated in an RBI walk. That pair entered the frame hitless in seven at-bats with four strikeouts. Yuli Gurriel produced a run-scoring fielder’s choice before Segura’s two-out, two-run knock.

“If you see the stats, this is pretty much one of the best outings from Sandy,” Sánchez said via interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. “And so that was top of our minds. We were thinking, ‘We’ve got to win this game. We’ve got to continue, we’ve got to battle in the game.' But if you think about it, like at the end of the game, we noticed that it's not about home runs or doubles, singles. You can also win games with a walk.”