Sandy Alacantar outlasts Dylan Cease in pitchers’ duel as Marlins defeat Padres 3-2

MIAMI AP Jes s S nchez hit a two-run homer and NL Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara pitched seven innings with four strikeouts as the Marlins beat the Padres - on Wednesday afternoon Padres pitcher Dylan Cease - struggled with control early walking Miami s first two batters before August n Ram rez got the Marlins on the board with a single to center field that drove in Xavier Edwards San Diego tied things up in the fourth inning after a throwing error from catcher Nick Fortes advanced Luis Arraez to second and Manny Machado drove him in with a single to left field The Padres run was swiftly put to an end though after a double play finished the inning with the points tied at - The Marlins came back when S nchez hit his ninth home run of the season on a fly ball to right field in the bottom of the fifth inning putting Miami up - Cease retired the next two batters to escape the inning but was pulled heading into the sixth Josh Simpson stepped in as relief for Alcantara in the eighth and gave up a run after pinch-hitter Jose Iglesias hit a single to right field that scored Jackson Merrill Simpson was hastily replaced by Calvin Faucher who stranded two runners on base to maintain the one-run lead Faucher earned the save after throwing innings to give the Marlins their second consecutive series win Key moment Javier Sanoja reached first base on an errant throw and S nchez brought two scores in on a -foot home run to right field giving the Marlins an early - lead Key stat Alcantara led the charge for the Marlins posting four strikeouts and zero walks in pitches He held the Padres offense to just one run on the afternoon Up next Padres right-handed pitcher Yu Darvish - ERA is expected to open a four-game series against the Cardinals while the Marlins have a day off before a three-game series with the Brewers Miami has not yet communicated a starter AP MLB https apnews com hub MLB Source