This weekend’s series will mark the first time in a long time the Phillies won’t see ace Sandy Alcantara in a series versus the Marlins.
He was slated to start sometime during the series against the Phillies, but he was placed on the injured list with a right forearm flexor strain on Sept. 6. It would have been the 11th straight Phillies and Marlins series in which Alcantara started one of the games for the Fish. Left-hander Steven Okert is scheduled to be the opener for the Marlins, who are doing a bullpen game on Sunday.
Alcantara, the 2022 National League Cy Young Award winner, has pitched in every Phillies vs. Marlins series dating back to the final weekend of the 2021 season. The Phillies have only missed his turn in the rotation twice since the 2020 season.
“I remember being with the Yankees and every time we play Toronto, it seemed like [Roy] Halladay pitched,” Rob Thomson said before Sunday’s game. “I don’t think it was as much as we’ve gotten with Alcantara. Having said that, they still got pretty good pitching.”
The Phillies have done well against the right-hander. They are 8-2 in that 10-game stretch and have won 10 of their last 12 overall when facing Alcantara.
In that 10-game stretch, Alcantara has a 3.93 ERA. A nine-run outing against the Phillies earlier this year in April inflates that number. Alcantara has thrown at least seven innings in five of those 10 starts. He has allowed three runs or fewer in seven of those ten starts.
It’s a testament to Alcantara’s durability over the last few years and the way things align in a baseball season. In Alcantara’s 2022 Cy Young Award campaign, the Phillies saw him six times. It’s something we’ll never see happen again since the new balanced schedule reduced the number of series between divisional opponents from six to four.
The Marlins are in uncharted waters when it comes to Alcantara. His only injured list stint of his career came in 2020 when he was out for about a month on the COVID IL.
Miami not having Alcantara for Sunday’s game has already had an impact in the three-game series. In an effort to conserve the bullpen for Sunday’s game, Marlins manager Skip Schumaker had Saturday’s starter Johnny Cueto throw 50 pitches in the second inning, the most by any pitcher in a single inning in the majors this season.
Sunday’s game is massive for both teams. With the season series tied at 6-6, the team that wins the series finale will hold the first tiebreaker if the two teams finish with an identical record at the end of the season. That could be a factor in the National League Wild Card series if the Marlins’ late season surge continues.
They’ll just have to do it on Sunday without their best pitcher.
The Marlins are currently 1.5 games out of the third Wild Card spot, which is currently held by the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Phillies are four games clear of a playoff spot and have a three-game lead over the Cubs for the top Wild Card spot.
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