WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sandy Alcantara pitched eight innings of one-run ball with a season-high eight strikeouts as the Miami Marlins beat the Oakland Athletics, extending the 30-year-old’s career-high win streak to seven and his record to 10 victories this season.
Miami (48-42) returned to a season-high six games over .500 and remained one game back of a National League Wild Card spot. The only seasons in franchise history with more wins through 90 games: 2023 (51) and 1997 (52). Both of those clubs reached the postseason, with the 1997 team capturing the World Series.
Alcantara, the subject of persistent trade rumors with the Aug. 3 deadline approaching, made clear where he wants to be. “My mind is [on] keep winning the game with my boys in there,” Alcantara said. “We’ve been doing so great this year. But if they made any decision, I’m just a player and I need to follow those decisions. But to me, it’s great to stay in Miami, so I think it’s a great city for me. I’ve been there all my career. If they give me an opportunity to be there for more [of a] long time, I’ll take it.”
Marlins chairman, principal owner and control person Bruce Sherman left little doubt about Alcantara’s standing with the organization. “He means everything,” Sherman said on Marlins Radio before the game. “He’s the ultimate professional. … He’s our franchise icon, and for us, I look forward to many years in the future and what this all becomes.” Sherman added: “I look forward to him taking the ball every five days.”
Alcantara became the first Marlins pitcher to go 6-0 in a calendar month since José Fernández in 2016. Over his seven-start win streak, he has posted a 2.98 ERA and watched his season ERA drop from 4.66 to 4.00 thanks to six quality starts during that span. He allowed just one run on six hits, induced 11 groundouts and completed four innings on single-digit pitches in a 100-pitch outing. He surpassed Phillies All-Star Cristopher Sánchez for the most innings in MLB this season at 123 and has thrown six-plus frames in an MLB-high 15 of his 19 starts.
“This was an exhibition by Alcantara,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “He had everything going. He pitched to the bottom rail all night, kept the ball down, got it on the ground when he needed to, got punchouts when he needed to, threw the ball in with command, really. That’s how you pitch in this ballpark.”
Miami’s offense backed Alcantara after slugging a season-high-tying five homers in the series opener. Mack broke a scoreless deadlock in the third inning with a solo shot — his third home run of the road trip. Lopez lined a two-run homer for one of his three hits, and Stowers crushed his third homer of the series, a two-run dinger in the seventh.
Marlins pitching coach Clayton McCullough pointed to Alcantara and All-Star Max Meyer as the engine of the club’s surge. “Those two have been the mainstays — not only the quality, the wins, the innings,” McCullough said. “It’s fun. Some friendly competition when two guys are going like that. Our whole group, the amount of confidence they have when they’re on the mound. They’ve been a real ticket allowing us to have a lot of flexibility on other days.”
The next 23 games will shape Miami’s deadline strategy, with Eury Pérez rounding into form and Janson Junk close to returning from injury ahead of the Aug. 3 trade deadline.