Alcantara goes 5 scoreless in potential final Marlins start to beat Cardinals

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Graham Pauley hit his first home run for the Marlins, Sandy Alcantara pitched five scoreless innings and Miami beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-0 on Tuesday night.

Alcantara (6-9) gave up three hits with three walks, struck out four and hit two batters. Calvin Faucher, Ronny Henriquez and Valente Bellozo combined to pitch four scoreless innings with six strikeouts.

Troy Johnston in his first major league game singled off St. Louis starter Sonny Gray (10-5) in his first at-bat and Pauley's homer made it 2-0. The 28-year-old Johnston went into the game with 636 career games played and 2,384 at-bats in the minors.

Kyle Stowers hit a two-out double and Otto Lopez followed with an RBI single to snap a string of 13 consecutive at-bats without a hit and give the Marlins a 3-0 lead in the fifth.

After Dane Myers singled, Eric Wagaman hit an RBI double and Xavier Edwards followed with a run-scoring triple to make it 5-0 in the sixth.

Cardinals reliever John King retired Edwards and Jesús Sánchez before he left the game due to an apparent injury in the ninth.

Victor Scott II had two stolen bases and is tied with Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Chicago Cubs for second in the National League with 29 this season. Pittsburgh's Oneil Cruz leads the majors with 34 steals.

Key moment

Pedro Pagés singled and Scott walked before Iván Herrera was hit by a pitch to load the bases in the fifth, but Alcantara got Alec Burleson to strike out swinging to end the inning and preserve a 3-0 lead.

Key stat

The Cardinals, who had four hits and struck out 10 times, were shut out for the 10th time this season.

Up next

Cal Quantrill (3-8, 4.95 ERA) is scheduled to pitch for the Marlins on Wednesday against Miles Mikolas (6-7, 4.94).

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