Entering the ninth inning on Tuesday, Sandy Alcantara hadn’t allowed a single run this season.
And after recording the first out, he was two outs away from his second straight shutout.
But a double from Matt McCalin and a walk to Elly De La Cruz put two Reds runners on base, and even with Alcantara at 95 pitches, Miami skipper Clayton McCullough saw enough to bring in reliever Anthony Bender, leading to some boos from the loanDepot park crowd.
The decision quickly blew up in Miami’s face. And the Miami ace wasn’t particularly thrilled with the decision-making.
Bender blew the lead, and the Marlins fell to the Reds, 6-3, in 10 innings.
Alcantara, the 2022 National League Cy Young Award winner, said that at his pitch count and a right-handed hitter coming up for the Reds, he felt he could have stayed in for at least another batter.
“I’m just a player,” Alcantara told reporters. “I understand there’s a decision, and you cannot control it. It just happened. It just happened. So I’ll be there with my teammates and my coaches, but I think next time, they have to make sure to ask me before taking me out of the game.”
McCullough said he was ready to go to Bender after the walk to De La Cruz put the potential tying runner on base.
“I know he felt like he had plenty left to go finish that game out,” McCullough said, per the Miami Herald. “Didn’t give him that opportunity.”
It’s been a journey for Alcantara after he won the Cy Young, as he struggled in 2023 with an ERA over 4.00 before undergoing Tommy John surgery, forcing him to miss all of ’24.
Last season’s return, while successful in the fact that he was on the field and threw 174 2/3 innings, did not provide great results with his 5.36 ERA and 1.271 WHIP.
All the while, Alcantara faced plenty of speculation and rumors that he would be shipped out of Miami.
This season has been a complete 180, with the two runs that scored in the ninth on Tuesday being the only ones charged on his ledger through 24 1/3 frames. The Marlins are 6-5.
