Right-hander Sandy Alcantara logged seven strong innings as the Miami Marlins nipped the visiting Philadelphia Phillies 1-0 on Tuesday.
Kyle Stowers’ first-inning home run accounted for the offensive output for Miami, which has won the first two games of this series after entering with a franchise-record 12-game losing streak.
Alcantara (11-6) allowed just four hits and a walk while striking out five amid rumors that he could be dealt ahead of Monday’s trade deadline.
Aaron Nola (3-9) allowed one run and five hits in 5 2/3 innings for Philadelphia, which has lost eight of its 11 games since the All-Star break. The Phillies managed only four hits, two of which came from former Marlins outfielder Bryan De La Cruz.
Alcantara struck out two in a 1-2-3 first inning, but Nola had no such luck in the bottom half. He retired the first hitter before Stowers sent one over the fence in right-center for his 14th homer of the season.
In the second, Philadelphia put its first two runners on against Alcantara, who recovered to retire the next three batters.
Nola also ran into trouble in his half of the second, but a line-drive double play off the bat of Graham Pauley got the veteran right-hander out of a jam.
Alcantara retired the Phillies in order in the fourth and worked around a two-out infield single in the fifth.
The visitors put together a two-out rally in the sixth, as Bryce Harper and Alec Bohm provided singles before Brandon Marsh struck out looking at a 1-2 sinker.
The hosts followed a similar formula in the bottom half. With two outs, Xavier Edwards (walk) and Liam Hicks (single) reached base against Nola before Tim Mayza came on and struck out pinch hitter Esteury Ruiz to end the inning.
In the seventh, the Phillies briefly threatened with two outs, as De La Cruz doubled to put the tying run in scoring position. However, Garrett Stubbs’ groundout kept the score at 1-0.
Calvin Faucher needed only nine pitches to get through the eighth before Pete Fairbanks struck out two in a perfect ninth for his 14th save.
