CHICAGO - Sandy Alcantara recorded his second career save in as many weeks Wednesday, closing out the Miami Marlins’ victory over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field and postponing Chicago’s postseason-clinching celebration at least another day.
Alcantara entered in the ninth inning and worked around a leadoff single by Pedro Ramírez, getting a flyout from Dansby Swanson before inducing a game-ending 6-4-3 double play off the bat of Carson Kelly. The outing came just days after Alcantara made a regular start in San Diego, where he gave up four runs over six innings in a loss.
“My first opportunity, I was a little nervous,” Alcantara said. “[Once] I threw the first pitch, just everything goes away. Today, I don’t feel anything. I’m a quick guy to adapt to anything, so I feel good.”
Manager Clayton McCullough turned to Alcantara after the club had burned through eight relievers, including Eury Pérez, in Tuesday’s 12-inning win. Alcantara’s first career save came last Wednesday in Arizona.
“[Alcantara] runs out of that bullpen as he has a couple times, and we all just have so much faith in him and trust,” McCullough said. “He came out there and he filled it up and put up a zero. Hats off to him for continuing to be open to do this right here at this stage and getting the job done.”
Kyle Stowers broke a scoreless deadlock in the sixth inning with a two-run homer off Cubs righty Kevin Gausman, driving a four-seamer over the center-field wall. The blast marked the second time this month Stowers has homered on back-to-back days following a 13-game homerless drought. Despite being sidelined with hamstring trouble three times this season, the outfielder has hit 21 home runs in 120 games - second most on the team.
“We know how much Kyle means to our group, this lineup, when he’s going well,” McCullough said. “Nice to see him here recently hit some balls out to center, left-center field. I think that, for the early part of the year, was lacking a little bit.”
Starter Mason Gusto was chased in the sixth inning but limited the Cubs’ offense to two runs. The 27-year-old, who began the season at Triple-A Jacksonville and was optioned twice before sticking with Miami since early July, posted a 3.12 ERA over his final 10 starts.
“We’ve come a really long way,” Gusto said. “If I look at how my arsenal was in Spring Training and the first part of the season in Triple-A, it’s completely different right now. So I think we’ve done a really great job about building the confidence around every pitch and getting every pitch to the spot that I can be confident in.”
Gusto also kept Cubs outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong from stealing his 40th base of the season, which would have placed him in the exclusive 40/40 club. Pérez, who struck out the side in the eighth inning Tuesday in his relief debut, is scheduled to make his final start of the season Friday when Miami returns home. Alcantara is slated for his final start Saturday.