Under the weather, Sandy off his game

MIAMI -- With time running out for the Marlins to make up ground in the National League East standings before the Trade Deadline, the sense of urgency is escalating. That's why, despite waking up feeling under the weather, right-hander Sandy Alcantara took the mound for a pitchers' duel with Max Scherzer.

Alcantara was chased in the sixth inning in the Marlins' 5-1 loss to the Nationals on Sunday afternoon at loanDepot park. Hoping to extend its winning streak to three behind its ace, Miami instead had to settle for a split of the four-game series. The club will embark on a six-game trip to division rivals Philadelphia and Atlanta following an off-day on Monday.

"I just think our energy was good," manager Don Mattingly said. "After that first night, I thought we played hard, we were getting after it. They're a good club. That's kind of what happens with good teams. I would have loved to have been able to get the series today -- you got Sandy going. We're not able to get that one. At this point, we can't really look back and say, 'Oh, it was still an OK series.' You've really got to look game to game and think about winning every game."

The 25-year-old Alcantara entered the finale with a 1.98 ERA, one homer allowed and nearly 7 1/3 innings per start in June. But there were indications that something was off with him throughout his 5 1/3 frames on Sunday. Alcantara struggled with location, and never was it more evident than during the go-ahead four-run sixth when he surrendered a pair of homers -- the first time he's allowed more than one home run in a game this season. Trea Turner sent a middle-middle sinker over the right-center wall for a two-run shot. Two batters later, Josh Bell rocketed an elevated sinker to left-center for another two-run blast.

Being sick didn’t just affect Alcantara’s command. His velocity also was down. Here’s a more in-depth look at how his repertoire was affected on Sunday compared to the rest of his season:

Pitch velocity on sinker
Max velo: 98.3 mph vs. 100.1 mph
Average velo: 96.4 mph vs. 97.4 mph

Entering Sunday, Alcantara’s average fastball velocity of 97.6 mph was the highest in the Majors amongst pitchers who have thrown a minimum of 700 fastballs. The Nationals were hitting just .148 (9-for-61 at-bats) off 97-plus mph fastballs (MLB average: .210), which ranked fourth worst.

Quality of contact
Average exit velo: 93.5 mph vs. 86.6 mph (85th percentile)
Hard-hit balls: 10 (two barrels)

Entering Sunday, batters were barreling the ball in just 2.5% (third best in MLB) of the plate appearances against Alcantara in 2021, according to Statcast.

Missing bats
Five swings and misses (fewest for a start all season)

“He’s always good,” Turner said. “He’s always a tough at-bat because he throws 95 to 100 [mph] with good movement on his fastball, and he’s got two good pitches to go with it. So it doesn’t matter if you get to him early. I feel like he can settle in and he throws strikes, he moves the ball around, and he’s not a fun at-bat. So getting five runs off him today I think is big because that’s their guy over there, that’s their ace, and it was a good win for us.”

Despite Sunday's shorter-than-usual start, Alcantara still paces all MLB pitchers with 106 2/3 frames. At the beginning of Spring Training, he stated his intention to throw 200-plus innings for the first time in his career. Being a workhorse is something he takes great pride in.

Was there any thought of not pitching on Sunday? Of course not.

"Like I always say, I just want to be the one -- I just want to be the No. 1 when my team needs me," Alcantara said. "Just go outside, do my job and do everything I can. They know that I am the man for them, and they believe in me. I believe in them. Like I said, I'm just going to be outside, do my job, because I want to do my best for my team."