Just over three weeks ago, Sandy Alcantara and Aaron Nola squared off in a classic pitchers’ duel.
The veteran right-handers are back on the mound Wednesday when the Miami Marlins conclude their three-game road series against the surging Philadelphia Phillies, who will be after a sweep and their sixth straight win.
Alcantara (13-7, 3.43 ERA) got the better of Nola (4-9, 5.33) in that July 28 matchup, allowing just four hits over seven scoreless innings in a 1-0 victory as part of a three-game sweep. Nola was no slouch himself, yielding one run over 5 2/3 frames in a hard-luck defeat.
“Sandy was on point pretty well tonight,” Philadelphia slugger Bryce Harper said that night. “Yeah, that’s one obviously I thought we could have won, with the swings we took tonight and the way Nola pitched.”
Alcantara is 2-0 in two starts with a 1.38 ERA against the Phillies this season but just 8-11 with a 3.66 ERA in 24 career starts against them. Nola, meanwhile, is 1-1 with a 0.77 ERA against Miami in two 2026 starts, compared to 6-13 with a 3.52 ERA overall in 27 starts.
In his last four starts, Alcantara is 3-1 with a 0.33 ERA. He took a 1-0 loss Friday against the Cincinnati Reds despite surrendering only one run and three hits in seven frames.
“This guy knows how to win. He knows how to go out there and get outs,” Miami manager Clayton McCullough said. “He understands where he is in moments of games and when he needs to step on it. What’s been just so impressive to watch is the level of execution that he’s had, really, for the last two-plus months.”
Nola is in the midst of his best stretch of the season as well. He is 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA in August, including a solid win against the Minnesota Twins last Thursday in which he struck out nine and allowed one run in five innings.
Philadelphia has matched a season high with five straight victories, including tight wins in the first two games of this series. The Phillies held on for a 6-5 triumph on Monday before notching a 6-4 win on Tuesday.
In Tuesday’s victory, Bryson Stott and Alec Bohm each drove in a pair of runs, while Luis Arraez contributed three hits. The Phillies trailed 3-1 before plating four runs in the sixth, highlighted by Stott’s two-run single.
“To be able to come back in that game was obviously big. … A lot of good stuff,” Philadelphia interim manager Don Mattingly said.
The Phillies have scored 35 runs during their win streak. As part of their hot stretch, they’ve won two games via blowouts and three by close margins.
“(These types of games) just give you confidence that you can win all types of games,” Stott said. “One-run games, come-from-behind games. … To get different types of wins is great for our confidence moving forward.”
Miami, on the other hand, has lost four of its last six. The Marlins used six pitchers in a bullpen game Tuesday, a strategy that may have been built around the confidence McCullough has in Alcantara going deep in the game Wednesday.
“What Sandy’s been able to do this year … certainly provides me a lot of optionality,” McCullough said. “But I think we just look at what’s our best way to try to win today’s game. And then come back the next day and think about what’s the best way to win that one.”
This is the rivals’ final matchup of the season. Philadelphia leads the season series 7-5.
–Field Level Media
