A deep dive into Alcantara's struggles -- and improvements -- in 4th straight loss

MIAMI -- Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara has been trying just about everything to regain his Cy Young form.

After surrendering seven runs and issuing five walks his last time out against the Dodgers, Alcantara took a unique approach to his between-starts bullpen session. Before yet another matchup with the defending World Series champions, he worked on consistently hitting the edges of the strike zone and cleaned up his mechanics to avoid tipping pitches – while teammates served as runners.

Alcantara saw mixed results in Monday night’s 7-4 loss to the Dodgers at loanDepot park. He permitted five runs, including a pair of two-run homers, over five innings, as the Dodgers remained a thorn in his side (9.57 ERA in eight career starts).

With the defeat, Alcantara has dropped four straight starts for the first time in his career. During this stretch, he has allowed 21 runs over 15 2/3 innings (12.06 ERA) with 10 walks and 11 strikeouts.

“You know what?” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “You go through a run where sometimes those balls get popped up, where they get fouled back, and they just didn't tonight. Trying to draw from so many of the positives that came out of this outing and to build on that. The game of baseball, there's some chance in there. You just go through stretches where balls find holes and they don't get missed, and it kind of does feel that way a little bit right now.”

THE GOOD

Limiting the free passes
Alcantara entered with a 14.2% walk rate, more than double what it was from 2021-23 (6.0%). He walked just one batter in the series opener in large part due to throwing 16 of 22 first-pitch strikes (73%).

Lighting up the radar gun
Velocity wasn’t an issue for Alcantara, who saw an increase on the following pitches:

• Four-seamer up 0.3 mph, averaging 97.7 mph
• Changeup up 0.3 mph, averaging 90.4 mph
• Sinker up 1 mph, 97.7 mph

Alcantara entered with the third-fastest sinker velo (96.7 mph) among starters to have thrown at least 100 pitches.

Executing pitches for strikeouts
Take a look at the location of Alcantara’s four strikeouts.

Six days ago, Alcantara surrendered a first-pitch homer to Shohei Ohtani at Dodger Stadium. He struck out Ohtani on a 98.9 mph four-seamer that tied him up to open Monday’s game. He froze Max Muncy with a 99.2 mph four-seamer up and in.

Righty bats Mookie Betts (98.8 mph sinker) and Will Smith (sweeper), meanwhile, stared at pitches that painted the outside corner. Alcantara called the punchout of Betts the best sequence of his outing.

“I don't know,” Alcantara said when asked whether it was an encouraging start. “I'm going to say hard, because I want to have great success out there today. They got me over there in L.A., so it is what it is. You’ve got to take the positive things from today, just get better between my starts, and be out there next outing and do my best like always.”

THE BAD

Getting too much of the plate
This is Alcantara’s worst season as far as pitches in the heart of the strike zone.

Entering the series opener, he ranked 30th out of 136 qualifying pitchers (min. 400 total pitches) with a 29.8 heart-of-the-zone percentage. Batters have a slash line of .305/.305/.542 line on such pitches. The league average is .302/.299/.527.

That could explain why Alcantara’s HR/9 rate (1.74) is the highest of his career and seventh highest in the Majors this season (min. 30 IP, 81 pitchers). Alcantara acknowledged that he has been missing with his location all season, especially down the middle.

While Alcantara did a nice job locating his pitches on the four strikeouts, take a look at where the offerings were on Freddie Freeman’s two-run homer in the third and Ohtani’s two-run shot in the fifth. Ohtani’s rocket had an exit velocity of 117.9 mph -- the hardest-hit home run by a Major Leaguer this season and the hardest-hit ball against Alcantara in his career.

“I just think that right now, he just doesn’t have the command,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “He doesn’t have the fastball command that he typically does and will. The breaking ball, he’s just not commanding. And so, he’s just kind of trying to find his way, and it’s hard to do when you’re facing a lineup like ours, but he’ll get there.”