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.
The baseball world reciognized not only Alcántara’s fantastic outing on Wednesday but the entirety of what’s been a brilliant season.
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.