Miami Marlins rally in ninth to back Sandy Alcantara gem and beat Chicago White Sox

Sandy Alcantara has been in a funk on the mound almost all season. As the reigning National League Cy Young winner, the right-hander hasn’t performed nearly at that level in 2023. So, he decided to switch things up before Saturday’s start by shaving his beard earlier in the week.

And the Marlins could get used to clean-shaven Alcantara.

His dominant outing and the offense’s five-run ninth-inning spark helped the Marlins beat the White Sox, 5-1, at Guaranteed Rate Field on Saturday afternoon.

“It was a pretty frustrating day, the first eight innings,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “Sandy was throwing the ball so well, really good defense behind him. We had guys on base, we just couldn’t get that one big hit. We finally broke through in the ninth inning.”

Trailing by one run in the ninth, the Marlins (36-29) needed a rally. Garrett Cooper, who left Friday’s game with an elbow injury, came in to pinch hit and smashed a single up the middle. Then, Luis Arraez singled and Jorge Soler walked to load the bases with nobody out.

With a chance to tie the game, Bryan De La Cruz came to the plate and hit a soft grounder to Tim Anderson at short. But Anderson couldn’t handle it and the Marlins tied it even at one. Jesus Sanchez followed with a walk to force in the go-ahead run before Jean Segura lauched a two-run double to break things open.

The offense couldn’t capitalize on opportunities early on but came through in the clutch to win their 36th game of the year. It’s tied for the second most wins through 65 games in club history.

“It was a team effort,” Segura said. “We’ve been doing it all year long, come back [and] come from behind. A lot of ninth-inning rallies for us this year and that just tells you just how good of a team you are.”

Miami’s sudden offensive outburst in the ninth helped Alcantara avoid the loss on Saturday after the right-hander delivered his best outing in a month.

Maybe it was the clean-shave, maybe it was the game plan. But, Alcantara came out and showed his vintage ways. He allowed just one run on three hits with two walks and four strikeouts across seven innings.

“Trying to do something different,” Alcantara said of his shaved beard. “I shaved [it] down last year, so this year just trying to do something different.”

Alcantara controlled the strike zone all afternoon and tossed his fifth quality start of the season. The defense behind him also had a big hand in the bounce-back performance.

Joey Wendle made multiple nice plays at shortstop, including a diving stop and throw to get Andrew Vaughn at first base in the first inning. Then, Sanchez made a spectacular leaping grab in the fourth and Segura made a spinning throw later in the game.

“Great job by those guys,” Alcantara said. “I think everyone did a great job today trying to make some outs and I feel happy about it.”

The right-hander was almost perfect on Saturday and made just one mistake all afternoon -- an outside fastball that White Sox first baseman Andrew Vaughn launched for a home run.

Outside of that though, Alcantara did a good job using his pitch mix to limit any big innings and deliver one of his best starts of the year.

“I can deal with a solo home run all day long,” Schumaker said. “Besides maybe a couple of walks that he wants to have back, he pitched really well and kind of vintage Sandy.”