Marlins' Sandy Alcantara, facing White Sox, aims to 'just get better'

After scuffling against the high-powered Los Angeles Dodgers over consecutive starts, former Miami ace Sandy Alcantara will look to regroup Sunday afternoon when the Marlins visit the slumping Chicago White Sox.

Alcantara enters the game on a four-start losing streak. He's 2-4 with an 8.42 ERA while pitching just 31 innings over seven starts this season.

Alcantara has a 12.06 ERA during his skid, with 10 walks and 11 strikeouts in 15 2/3 innings.

"The game of baseball, there's some chance in there," Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. "You just go through stretches where balls find holes and they don't get missed, and it kind of does feel that way a little bit right now."

Alcantara remains resolved to break out of the longest losing streak of his career.

"Just get better between my starts," he said, "and be out there next outing and do my best, like always."

Chicago, which has lost five of its past six games, would appreciate some fortunate bounces on Sunday. Aiming to secure its second straight home series win with a victory on Saturday, the White Sox fizzled after Andrew Vaughn's solo home run in the first inning.

The White Sox managed just three hits the rest of the way in a 3-1 loss to the Marlins, including a pair of singles from Lenyn Sosa.

Sosa was on second base with two outs in the seventh with Tim Elko at bat in his major league debut. Elko, 26, who was batting .348 with 10 home runs in 31 games at Triple-A Charlotte, was robbed of a go-ahead hit on a solid defensive play by Miami's Javier Sanjoa.

Although the first baseman went 0-for-3, White Sox manager Will Venable said he saw numerous positives from Elko, a 10th-round draft pick of the White Sox in 2022.

"He looked comfortable," said Venable. "I thought he had some good at-bats and made some nice plays in the field."

Moving forward, Venable said the White Sox will take first base "day by day and see how it all fits together."

Chicago promoted Elko in part because of a prolonged slump from Vaughn. Despite homering in consecutive games, Vaughn is batting .189 with 11 extra-base hits in 38 games.

"We are going to take each day and build out our lineup kind of how we set it up with who the best guys are for that day," Venable said. "Sometimes that might involve both of them, sometimes it might not. Other times it might be someone else at DH."

White Sox rookie right-hander Sean Burke (2-4, 4.35 ERA) is set to start for Chicago in the rubber game of the series. This will be his first career outing against the Marlins.

After going 0-4 with a 7.71 ERA in five April starts, Burke has shined in May. He's 1-0 with an 0.73 ERA in two starts covering 12 1/3 innings. Burke is coming off a no-decision in Kansas City on Tuesday, when he allowed one run and four hits in 6 1/3 innings in Chicago's 4-3 loss.

Alcantara took a no-decision in his lone previous appearance against the White Sox, scattering one run and three hits with two walks and four strikeouts in seven innings of the Marlins' 5-1 victory in June 2023.

--Field Level Media