Marlins tab ace Sandy Alcantara for rubber game vs. Nats

The Miami Marlins look to end their 10-game homestand on a winning note when they host the Washington Nationals in the rubber match of their three-game series on Sunday.

After splitting the first two games, Miami is 3-6 on its homestand which began with series losses to the Philadelphia Phillies and Baltimore Orioles.

Sunday's starters will be Washington's Cade Cavalli (1-2, 4.15 ERA) against fellow right-hander Sandy Alcantara (3-2, 4.01) for Miami.

Alcantara, 30, appeared to be returning to the form that made him a Cy Young Award winner in 2022 when he strung together three straight outings in which he allowed three earned runs or less. He took a step back in his last start, however, allowing seven runs on eight hits in 4 1/3 innings of a no-decision Tuesday against the Orioles, raising his ERA by nearly a full run.

"Pitch count ran up, Pete (Alonso) hooks the ball down the line for a couple of runs and we have a little trouble handling down there," manager Clayton McCullough said. "Get another guy to third base and just some times today where he had some counts in his favor, he just didn't execute well enough with (two strikes)."

Despite the outing, Alcantara is expected to once again be one of the hottest commodities at the trade deadline.

He is 8-6 with a 3.58 ERA in 16 starts against the Nationals.

Cavalli, 27, closed out April with a couple of strong starts but struggled in his first May outing, giving up six runs (three earned) in four innings of a loss to the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday.

Cavalli had a fielding error that contributed to his tough night. He gave up five hits and walked three.

"I felt great all night, that's the thing," he said. "It's not like I was erratic, throwing crazy pitches. It was competitive and just untimely hits. That's baseball, and I'm going to get back to work and get ready to go on day five."

Cavalli is 2-0 with a 3.60 ERA in two starts versus Miami.

Cavalli will be challenged if the Marlins can carry over their offensive approach from Saturday. Miami fell behind 4-0, then scored eight unanswered runs before holding on in the ninth for an 8-7 win.

Jakob Marsee hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to put the Marlins up 7-4. Xavier Edwards had tied it 4-4 in the seventh when he hit his second homer in as many days. Kyle Stowers had three hits including a home run.

"Some really good at-bats. Some slug. Come back in a game we were down to start with," McCullough said. "Offensively this is probably one of our best performances on this homestand and in a while."

Luis Garcia Jr. had three hits and James Wood homered and doubled for Washington, which had won three straight and got the tying run on base during a three-run ninth.

"This group, what they've done all year to this point is they continue to fight, they continue to have good at-bats," Nationals manager Blake Butera said. "They never feel like they're out of it, even when you get a gut punch like we did that inning before."

--Field Level Media