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ANALYSIS: Only three pitchers in baseball have thrown two shutouts in 2019; Shane Bieber, Lucas Giolito...and Sandy Alcantara of the cellar-dwelling Miami Marlins. With a record of 5-13, it's obviously been a bumpy year for the 24-year-old right-hander and he now has a 3.93 ERA in 178 2/3 innings, with 137 strikeouts and a 1.32 WHIP. But Alcantara is coming off of two of his best starts of the year, with a four-hit shutout of the Royals on August 8, followed by a hard-luck loss against the Giants in his last time out, in which he allowed just one run in seven innings and struck out six.
Even with the hapless Marlins playing behind him, Alcantara lines up for a sneaky good matchup on the road in Week 25, going to Arizona to face the Diamondbacks. The snakes have struggled against right-handers at home all year, as the humidor continues to make its presence known, slashing only .236/.313/.401 against them in 2019 with an 83 wRC+ that's fourth-worst in baseball. Alcantara has made an interesting change to his pitch mix over his last seven starts, dramatically increasing the usage of his sinker, while conversely dropping his four-seamer down. The results have been encouraging, with Alcantara posting a 2.49 ERA and 0.95 WHIP over 50 2/3 innings and going at least seven innings in all but one of his starts since making the switch. Wins will always be hard to count on when dealing with Miami pitchers but Alcantara is running hot as 2019 comes to a close and should be on your streaming radar.
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