Mike Trout snaps batting skid but Angels lose to Marlins
MIAMI — Sandy Alcantara pitched eight dominant innings in his second straight win, and the Miami Marlins beat the Angels 2-1 on Tuesday night for their sixth straight victory.
Alcantara (9-3) gave up two hits — singles by Luis Rengifo in the fifth and Mike Trout in the seventh — in his 11th consecutive outing of at least seven innings. The right-hander struck out 10 and lowered his ERA to 1.82.
“I just try to stay consistent, go out there every fifth day and fight for my team,” Alcantara said. “Every time I can pitch seven, eight innings I feel satisfied. It’s a long career and you have to stay healthy.”
Tanner Scott earned his 10th save, surrendering Taylor Ward’s sacrifice fly before retiring Jared Walsh on a liner to center for the final out.
Garrett Cooper and Bryan De La Cruz homered for Miami. Joey Wendle had two hits.
Marlins manager Don Mattingly considered giving Alcantara the opportunity for consecutive complete games. But with a prolonged bottom of the eighth, which included a pitching change, Alcantara was done after 107 pitches.
“It’s hard because Sandy is your best guy no matter where you are,” Mattingly said.
Trout snapped an 0-for-16 skid with his infield single leading off the seventh. The three-time AL MVP struck out in his first two at-bats against Alcantara.
Reigning AL MVP Shohei Ohtani went 0 for 3 with a walk. Ohtani, who turned 28 on Tuesday, reached on a fielder’s choice in the seventh and stole his ninth base of the season.
Mike Trout finished 0 for 11 with nine strikeouts in the series and Angels hitter were fanned 20 times in a 4-2 loss to the Houston Astros on Sunday.
“We came back, we fought, we’ve been doing everything we can,” Angels interim manager Bill Haselman said.
Alcantara retired his first 14 batters before Rengifo’s soft line drive to right.
Cooper connected against Noah Syndergaard (5-7) in the third, driving a 3-2 pitch over the wall in left-center for his sixth homer.
De La Cruz went deep in the fifth. It was his sixth of the year.
Syndergaard yielded five hits, struck out eight and walked none in five innings.
“Some of my stuff didn’t have swing-and-miss action,” Syndergaard said. “Got away with some pitches and made it through five.”
Umpire Lance Barrett ejected Miami right-fielder Avisail Garcia for arguing balls and strikes in the fourth.
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