MIAMI -- Of all their young starters,
“You want to see growth,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “To see the growth from when he came up last year until now, that's a pretty big jump. You didn't really see it until you've seen this consistent run.”\n\n• [Young fan catches two foul balls in same at-bat](https://www.mlb.com/cut4/marlins-fan-catches-two-foul-balls-in-same-at-bat)\n\nDespite going 12 starts between wins, Alcantara has progressively gotten better. Since Aug. 5, in seven starts his ERA is 2.77.
\n\nSandy gets WAAAAVVYYYYY @SandyAlcantar15 \uD83C\uDF0A // #JuntosMiami pic.twitter.com/DBNfGE3u8y
— Miami Marlins (@Marlins) September 8, 2019
“I've come a long way,” said Alcantara, Miami’s lone All-Star. “I've had good days, bad days. But I never give up. I work hard to get better every time.”\n\nAlcantara,
Miami’s offensive onslaught started with
In the eyes of the organization, Alcantara is scratching the surface of what he can become. The efficiency the rookie showed on Sunday is a reminder.\n\n“I felt extremely good today,” Alcantara said. “Inning by inning, getting on the mound and instead of thinking about finishing the game, just attack the hitters. I thought about throwing first-pitch strikes and getting strikeouts.”\n\nEntering the ninth inning at 89 pitches, Alcantara ended up with 102, with 74 strikes. The right-hander struck out eight and scattered four hits and two walks.\n\n“You've got to give credit to their starter,” Montgomery said. “He set the tone for that game. Stuff wise, unbelievable. Making good pitches, and he had us on our heels.\"
Alcantara is the third Marlins rookie to post two shutouts in a season, joining Dontrelle Willis in 2003. He’s also the third rookie in club history to have two complete games. Anibal Sanchez (‘06) and Willis (‘03) also did it.\n\nThrough two innings, he was at 25 pitches with 23 strikes, and he didn’t allow a baserunner until one out in the fourth inning on
“When I see a pitcher command a fastball like he was commanding it today, it makes the secondary pitches more effective,” Prado said. “He just settled his fastball the first couple of innings, and his secondary pitches became big for him.”\n\nAlcantara also benefited by a rare day of run support. He came into the contest averaging 2.60 runs of support, the lowest in the Majors among starters. The next closest is