Liam Hicks belted a two-run homer among his three hits and Sandy Alcantara won his third straight start, fueling the visiting Miami Marlins to an 8-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night.
Alcantara (6-4) allowed three runs on five hits while striking out seven batters in eight innings. The 2022 National League Cy Young Award winner tossed at least eight innings for the 33rd time with the Marlins, surpassing left-hander Dontrelle Willis for the most such starts in franchise history.
Alcantara also recorded the 1,000th strikeout of his career when he caught Tyler Callihan looking to end the fourth inning. He finished the night with 1,002 strikeouts to supplant Ricky Nolasco (1,001) as the franchise’s career leader.
Owen Caissie ripped a two-run double to highlight a four-run seventh inning, helping the Marlins extend their season-high winning streak to six games.
Hicks capped the scoring in the eighth inning when he banged a 0-2 changeup from Antwone Kelly off the foul pole in right field. The homer was Hicks’ team-leading 13th of the season and first since June 1.
Pittsburgh’s Endy Rodriguez went deep to lead off the fifth inning with his second homer of the season. Brandon Lowe added his team-leading 17th homer in the eighth inning for the Pirates, who lost for the sixth time in their last seven games.
Pirates starter Braxton Ashcraft allowed two runs and five hits over five innings and left a 2-2 tie for reliever Wilber Dotel (1-2).
Dotel got through the sixth unscathed, but he surrendered two walks and a bunt single to load the bases to begin the seventh inning before Xavier Edwards’ sacrifice fly scored Hicks to give Miami a 3-2 lead. Heriberto Hernandez followed with an RBI single into left and Caissie added a two-run double off the wall in center to extend the Marlins’ advantage.
Dotel permitted four runs on four hits with three walks in 1 2/3 innings.
Pittsburgh opened the scoring on Jared Triolo’s RBI single in the third before Miami responded with two runs in the fifth.
Javier Sanoja worked a leadoff walk and advanced to third on Hicks’ double before scoring on a groundout by Otto Lopez. Kyle Stowers followed with an RBI single to right to give the Marlins a 2-1 lead.
The lead was short-lived, however, as Rodriguez led off the fifth by depositing a 0-1 cutter from Alcantara over the wall in right-center field.
