PITTSBURGH, USA — Dominican right-hander Sandy Alcántara regained his best form this Tuesday by pitching six scoreless innings, leading the Miami Marlins to a 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park.
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With just 85 pitches, Alcántara dominated the opposing lineup, allowing only three hits, one walk and six strikeouts in his third quality start of the season, snapping a personal streak of seven consecutive losses. Despite facing threats in the first three innings, the Marlins' ace emerged unscathed. His most critical moment occurred in the third inning, when he managed to get out of a situation with a runner on third and two outs, after dominating Spencer Horwitz with a fly ball to right field after a full count. From there, Alcántara retired the last 10 batters he faced. The bullpen backed him up: Anthony Bender pitched a perfect seventh inning; Ronny Henríquez allowed two home runs in the eighth, courtesy of Ke’Bryan Hayes and Dominican Oneil Cruz; while Calvin Faucher closed out the game with a flawless ninth to earn his fifth save of the year, leading the club. Offensively, catcher Nick Fortes broke his slump with a two-run home run in the third chapter against Mitch Keller, being his first home run since May 20. Fortes had recorded just two hits in his last 22 at-bats before the hit. The offensive backing was completed with a simple producer by Eric Wagaman in the fourth episode, who also added a performance of multiple unstoppable plays.