A pair of good young pitchers will be on display Saturday when the Miami Marlins visit the Atlanta Braves for the second game of a three-game series.
Miami will send right-hander Sandy Alcantara (1-0, 0.00 ERA) against Atlanta right-hander Kyle Wright (0-1, 6.23) in their second meeting at SunTrust Park.
The Braves won the series opener 4-0 on Friday and extended their home-field winning streak to nine games, dating to September 2018. Atlanta has also won nine straight games at home against Miami.
Alcantara was outstanding in his first start of the year. The 23-year-old pitched eight shutout innings and allowed only four hits in beating the Colorado Rockies 3-0 last Sunday. He struck out six, didn’t walk anyone and retired 14 straight batters at one stretch. He also collected his first major league hit.
“I went out there inning after inning wanting to get the complete game, but the manager didn’t (let me finish), and those are his decisions,” Alcantara said.
Miami manager Don Mattingly said had the game occurred later in season that Alcantara would likely have been given a chance to toss a complete game. Alcantara threw 92 pitches.
“We didn’t want to push him to nine (innings) out of the gate,” Mattingly said. “He was pretty much dominant the whole day.”
Alcantara is in his third season in the majors, though he had just eight relief outings for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2017 and then six starts for Miami last year.
After making his season debut in 2018, he was sidelined for two months with a right armpit infection. He came back and lost three of his last four decisions, although his season ERA was a respectable 3.44.
This will the first time in his career that Alcantara has faced the Braves.
Wright, who pitched in four games as a reliever for Atlanta last year, made his first major league start last Sunday at Philadelphia. The 23-year-old pitched 4 1/3 innings and allowed three runs on two hits and five walks while striking out four.
The high number of walks was unexpected. Wright had walked only four batters in 16 2/3 innings in spring training, a fact that helped him make the club.
Part of Wright’s problems were the cold, windy conditions that existed that night in Philadelphia. Even Phillies starter Jake Arrieta had six walks in six innings that game.
“I thought (Wright) threw the ball extremely well,” Atlanta catcher Brian McCann said. “To throw a strike was tough for both sides. He’s got poise and he knows what he’s doing. The game almost seems slow to him, which is great to see.”
Wright’s walk-heavy debut was part of a weekend that saw the Braves issue 20 walks to the Phillies while being swept in three games.
The Marlins’ pitching staff, meanwhile, has given up 20 walks through eight games, tied for the fourth-highest total in the National League. Still, it’s quite a contrast from last year, when the team allowed 18 walks in its first three games.
Miami is trying to reverse its fortunes against the Braves. Atlanta won 14 of the teams’ 19 meetings and eight of nine games at SunTrust Park in 2018. That disparity helped the Braves win the NL East championship.
Atlanta has won four straight since being swept by Philadelphia in the opening series. The Marlins have lost four in a row.