MILWAUKEE — The Miami Marlins’ playoff push hit a wall at American Family Field, where ace Sandy Alcantara tied a franchise record but the club dropped a 2-1 extra-innings decision to the Brewers, extending its losing skid to four games.
Alcantara allowed just one run on three hits over six innings, notching his MLB-high 15th quality start of the season and extending his league lead with 136 2/3 innings pitched. His 110th career quality start tied Ricky Nolasco for the Marlins’ all-time record. Alcantara walked four but stranded six runners on base, and his fastball topped 100 mph five times thanks to extra rest over the All-Star break.
“Each game matters. Each game counts for us,” Alcantara said. “Bad because we didn’t start the second half winning, but we’ve got an opportunity tomorrow to do our best to win the game. We are in a good spot right now. So, we’ve got to keep our mind positive and believe in each other. Just take advantage of each opportunity that we’ve got out there, and fight, and doesn’t matter what happens.”
Over his last nine starts since June 1, Alcantara has posted a 2.93 ERA and lowered his season mark from 4.66 to 3.89. Three years ago, his season was cut short by an elbow injury that led to surgery during a similar postseason chase.
Griffin Conine broke a scoreless deadlock with a one-out solo homer in the fifth — his third home run in his last five games — on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, the first long ball against Logan Henderson’s changeup in Henderson’s young career. Milwaukee’s Joey Ortiz answered with a game-tying shot off a center-cut changeup in the bottom of the frame.
Both bullpens traded zeros until the 10th, when Brewers center fielder Garrett Mitchell made two spectacular catches — tracking down a 105.9 mph liner from Heriberto Hernández in the ninth and a 100.8 mph line drive from Joe Mack in the 10th — before singling up the middle off righty Lake Bachar on a hanging sweeper to score the winning run.
All-Star shortstop Otto Lopez recorded his 41st multihit game of the season, the most by a Marlins player through the club’s first 100 games of a season. “Not like a playoff game, but a game that we wanted to win, just like every game now,” Lopez said. “Just continue that energy that we have in that game, that we had today. The plays, they all matter, and every little detail, and just learn from them and just keep going.”
Miami entered the All-Star break holding the third and final National League Wild Card spot with a 33.7 percent chance of reaching the postseason. “It was a great baseball game on both sides,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “Unfortunately, we were the ones that came up on the wrong end of it.” The Marlins have 64 games remaining in the regular season and continue the series in Milwaukee on Saturday.