Behind the pitching of Sandy Alcántara, The Miami Marlins defeated the Cincinnati Reds 3-0 on Wednesday. Brilliant outings have been a theme for Alcántara during the 2022 season, with one stat, in particular, showing how fantastic his season has been.
In addition to allowing no runs against the Reds, Alcántara surrendered only six hits, walked one, struck out three and went the full nine innings. It was Alcántara’s fourth nine-inning start of the season. To show how rare that is in the modern era of baseball, Alcántara not only leads the league in nine-inning outings but has more than any team in Major League Baseball.
Including today's complete-game shutout, Sandy Alcantara now has 4 starts this season with 9 innings pitched.
That's more such starts than any other TEAM in Major League Baseball. pic.twitter.com/pvwL9rfNTT
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) August 4, 2022
The baseball world reciognized not only Alcántara’s fantastic outing on Wednesday but the entirety of what’s been a brilliant season.
Sandy Alcantara finishes off the complete game shutout
Special pitcher pic.twitter.com/ijp2e7FEeU
— Fish On First Spaces (@MarlinsSpaces) August 4, 2022
Best Marlins trade ever.
They got this future Cy Young winner, Sandy Alcantara, along with Zac Gallen and 2 others for Marcell Ozuna.
Gallen was later dealt for Jazz Chisholm Jr. pic.twitter.com/rktVbab7CC
— Andy Slater (@AndySlater) August 4, 2022
Sandy Alcantara; The NL Cy Young favorite entering the final two months. https://t.co/gao70UIDzo
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) August 4, 2022
The solution to baseball's pace-of-play problem is cloning Sandy Alcantara.
— David Wilson (@DBWilson2) August 4, 2022
Sandy Alcantara is the best pitcher in baseball. pic.twitter.com/gVdALCQF2j
— David Dwork (@DavidDwork) August 4, 2022
Sandy Alcantara is down to -200 to win the NL Cy Young Award 👀
⚾ ➡️ https://t.co/8ou0jt6N5m pic.twitter.com/expuNu712w
— BetMGM 🦁 (@BetMGM) August 4, 2022
Wednesday’s performance gave Alcántara a 1.88 and 0.935 WHIP on the season. His 141 strikeouts in 158.1 innings pitched is a relatively modest total, especially for the modern game. That’s one area where his fellow Cy Young Award contenders will have an edge on him. But Alcantara also has a sterling home run rate of not even 0.5 per nine innings pitched. So, even in a home run heavy era, hitters are not hitting the ball hard against Alcántara.
Cy Young Awards are often won in the final weeks of the season, which is the stretch we’re presently entering. But with two months of baseball left to play, Alcántara has an inside track to be Miami’s first ever Cy Young Award winner.
