*Photo from Yahoo News*
The Miami Marlins are pretty good for a reason. Sandy Alcantara shined on the mound, Jean Segura drove in two runs, and the Marlins rallied to beat the Chicago White Sox with a 5-1 win on Saturday in Chicago.
The win marks the 8th in 10 games for the surging Marlins, who are now 36-29 on the season and in second place in the NL East. Segura was the only player with two RBI's for the Marlins, who scored 5 runs in the 9th inning to pick up the win.
Alcantara started and dazzled on the mound once again. He got a no decision, allowing one run on 3 hits and two walks, striking out 4 hitters in 7 innings pitched. Steven Okert got the win with a scoreless 8th and Zach Pop sealed the win with a scoreless inning in the 9th.
Segura said of Alcantara's approach on the mound that "You have to be prepared with Sandy. Sandy is one of those guys that attacks the zone. With his sinker, a lot of people are going to hit a lot of ground balls. As an infielder, when you've got your ace on the mound, you have to be ready on every pitch."
It was the White Sox who kicked off the scoring off Alcantara. Andrew Vaughn got it going in the 4th inning, blasting a solo home run to center field to make it a 1-0 lead for the White Sox. There would be no scoring until the 9th, when the Marlins tied it 1-1 as Jonathan Davis scored on a Tim Anderson fielding error.
With Jesus Sanchez at the plate, he drew a walk with the bases loaded to score Luis Arraez and give the Marlins a 2-1 lead. Yuli Gurriel then reached base on a fielders choice, bringing Jorge Soler home to pad the lead to 3-1. Sanchez and Gurriel then scored on a two run double from Segura, opening up the lead to 5-1, which went final.
Sanchez said of the 9th inning rally that "If you see the stats, this is pretty much one of the best outings from Sandy. And so that was top of our minds. We were thinking, ‘We’ve got to win this game. We’ve got to continue, we’ve got to battle in the game.' But if you think about it, like at the end of the game, we noticed that it's not about home runs or doubles, singles. You can also win games with a walk."
Getting the start for the White Sox opposite Alcantara was Michael Kopech, pitching 5 scoreless innings, striking out 6 hitters. Gregory Santos then threw 1 2/3 innings before Reynaldo Lopez handled the next 1 1/3. Joe Kelly was charged with all 5 runs in the 9th, requiring Garrett Crochet to pitch.
Kelly said of the meltdown in the 9th that "It's either win or lose, and it was a loss. Just try to do as much work as we can. We have a great staff in there with the trainers who have kept a lot of arms on the field so far. Kind of grinding there and hopefully one of these games we'll explode and go from there."
Up next, the series concludes on Sunday afternoon. Both teams are going for the series win after each won a game. Braxton Garrett starts for the Marlins, opposed by Lucas Giolito for the White Sox.
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