Dave Hyde: Alcantara takes command, just as Marlins need, in opening win
MIAMI — There’s something reassuring about familiarity, and that describes Sandy Alcantara’s opening game Friday night for the Miami Marlins: clean, strong, economical and, most importantly, again showing a calm confidence he lacked too much last season. “Great way to start,’’ he said of the 2-1 win against Colorado. It was a made-for-baseball opener from the cool, night air to the decent crowd of 32,459 to the recipe that christened a new Marlins season.
One newcomer, right-fielder Owen Caissie, the former Chicago Cubs’ top prospect, doubled home the winning run in the second inning. Another newcomer, closer Pete Fairbanks, the Marlins’ $13 million free-agent splurge, finished the game in good fashion. But the season-hoping news for the Marlins was how Alcantara looked again like the guy who could take the ball every fifth day and carry this team.
He went seven innings and only faced three batters in six of them. His change-up finished off three of his five strikeouts. He threw 98 mph from the first batter.
He used six pitches … “Seven,’’ he said, smiling over his newly added sweeper pitch this season. All the lingering effects from his return last season from Tommy John surgery were gone. Those showed up in the numbers at last year’s start: a staggering 8.
98 earned-run average in April and May. “I wasn’t sure of myself,’’ he said. A lot of intangibles aren’t worth the conversation they take up in sports.