Sandy Alcantara silences Pirates bats, as late rally falls short in loss to Marlins

A Ke’Bryan Hayes home run provided a momentum swing for the Pittsburgh Pirates against the Miami Marlins, so it was fitting he had a chance to be the hero with two outs in the ninth inning.

Hayes came to bat with a pair of runners in scoring position, only to strike out and end a game where the Pirates’ bats were mostly quiet.

Sandy Alcantara foiled the Pirates through six scoreless innings before eighth-inning homers by Hayes and Oneil Cruz, but their rally fell short in a 3-2 loss Tuesday night before 14,465 at PNC Park.

It snapped a four-game winning streak by the Pirates (27-41), who can still clinch a series victory when they play the Marlins at 12:35 p.m. Wednesday.

Alcantara, the 2022 NL Cy Young winner, hasn’t been the same since undergoing Tommy John surgery in October 2023 and missing all of last season. He came into the game with a 2-7 record and 7.89 ERA in a dozen starts, leading the majors with 50 earned runs this season. Alcantara limited the Pirates to three hits and one walk, striking out six in six scoreless innings, his first outing without an earned run.

“He had it going,” Pirates manager Don Kelly said. “Fastball velo was up, changeup was good, breaking ball was good. He threw strikes, filled the zone up, in and out. Kept our guys off-balance, pitched in pretty effectively.”

Alcantara’s struggles this season are nothing compared to Mitch Keller’s bad luck, as the 2023 All-Star right-hander took his ninth loss. His only win came in a 4-3 victory at the Marlins on March 28, in the second game of the season. The Pirates had produced only 30 runs in Keller’s first 13 starts, and he notched his 10th quality start by allowing eight hits and four strikeouts without a walk in throwing 73 of 97 pitches for strikes.

But Keller left with the Pirates trailing 3-0.

“I don’t really focus too much on the opposing (pitcher) or what’s going on. I’m just really focusing on what I’m doing and what I’m trying to accomplish out there,” Keller said. “He had his ‘A’ stuff tonight. Obviously, he was throwing anything where he wanted it. He had a great start. Yeah, he was just better.”

Keller retired the first six batters he faced before Dane Myers opened the third inning with a single to left field. Nick Fortes followed by blasting a 2-2 sinker 397 feet to left for his second home run and a 2-0 lead.

“Just not good enough,” Keller said. “I was trying to get a ground-ball double play, and Fortes just made a good swing and hit it out of the park. Kind of the difference in the game right there.”

The Marlins extended their lead in the fourth, when Otto Lopez led off with a single to short, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on Eric Wagaman’s single to center to make it 3-0.

The Pirates had a chance to score in the third, when Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a leadoff double and Bryan Reynolds drew a two-out, full-count walk, but Alcantara got Spencer Horwitz to fly out to right to escape unscathed. The offense went quiet for four innings as Marlins pitchers retired the next 13 batters, including four by Alcantara on strikeouts.

“I think we all felt that,” Kelly said. “How much it all had to do with Sandy, how good he was and effective in pitching. We were just trying to find some ways to grind some at-bats out and to stick with it. He gets out of the game, and energy can be created by the offense. … Sometimes it has to do with the guy you’re facing, too.”

Hayes hit a leadoff home run off Ronny Henriquez in the eighth, driving an 0-1 slider 413 feet to left-center for his second homer of the season and first since April 4 against the New York Yankees. That was the wakeup call the Pirates needed. With one out, Cruz crushed a 1-2 inside fastball 416 feet to center for his 13th homer to cut it to 3-2.

“Kept it at one going into the ninth there,” Kelly said, “and gave us a chance to come back and win.”

That appeared possible when

Marlins reliever Calvin Faucher opened the ninth by hitting Spencer Horwitz with his first pitch. The Pirates used Jared Triolo as a pinch runner, and he reached second on a single to right by Nick Gonzales. Both runners advanced on Adam Frazier’s bouncer to first, but Henry Davis hit a high fly to right, bringing Hayes to bat.

This time, he went down swinging, leaving Keller to take another loss.

“Competed, battled and that’s what he does every time he goes out there and finds a way to give us a chance to win the ballgame,” Kelly said of Keller. “Almost came through there in the ninth and pulled it off.”