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Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara was red-hot on the mound against the Cincinnati Reds, looking to become the first pitcher to throw back-to-back shutouts in over a decade.
He took a 2-0 lead into the ninth inning when the Reds’ bats started jumping on him. He was removed from the game with one out after Matt McLain doubled and an Elly De La Cruz walk. Reliever Anthony Bender was unable to keep the Reds at bay, and Cincinnati tied the game.
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Miami Marlins starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara pitches against the Cincinnati Reds in the first inning at loanDepot Park in Miami, Fla., on April 7, 2026. (Rhona Wise/Imagn Images)
Cincinnati would score four runs in the 10th inning and go on to win 6-3.
Alcantara was credited with the two earned runs after McLain and De La Cruz scored. He allowed just three hits and struck out six. But he didn’t like manager Clayton McCullough’s decision to remove him from the game.
“So I think I deserve to be asked how I feel before I take myself out of the game (at) 95 pitches and (with a) right on deck,” Alcantara said, via MLB.com. “But it is what it is. Just gotta get ready for my next outing. Come back tomorrow and fight the same way we did today.”
Cincinnati Reds’ Elly de la Cruz reacts after scoring on a wild pitch by Miami Marlins relief pitcher Anthony Bender during the ninth inning of a baseball game in Miami on April 7, 2026. (Lynne Sladky/AP)
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McCullough suggested he was playing the percentages as the Reds’ lineup came through to face Alcantara for the fourth time. He said Bender was the best pitcher to come into the game and win it. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way.
“I think there’s a lot of decisions that go on during the game, throughout the season, that weigh on you, and it certainly doesn’t feel good for this one to turn and not end in our favor,” he added.
“I also know how to come here and [to] answer, that’s definitely part of it and I don’t feel good about how it ended for us. I think there are many resolutions during the year that weigh on you. Losing the match is for me what stings the most.”
Alcantara has been one of the best pitchers to come through the Marlins’ organization in quite some time.
Miami Marlins starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara walks to the dugout before a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds in Miami on April 7, 2026. (Lynne Sladky/AP)
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He won the National League Cy Young Award in 2022. So far this season, he has a 0.74 ERA with 18 strikeouts. The two earned runs he was charged with Tuesday were the first in three starts.
