Owen Caissie broke the game open with a three-run homer in the fifth inning and Sandy Alcantara became the Marlins’ all-time strikeout king as Miami defeated the visiting Texas Rangers 6-4 on Tuesday.
The Marlins, who are a major-league-best 15-5 in June, also got homers from Heriberto Hernandez and Joe Mack.
Alcantara (8-4) struck out Kyle Higashioka in the seventh inning to set the franchise record with No. 1,002 of his Marlins career. The whiff, his fourth and final one of the night, came on a slider outside the zone. Alcantara topped the mark established by Ricky Nolasco from 2006-13.
For the night, Alcantara pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing five hits, three walks and one run.
Texas reliever Jose Corniell (0-1) took the loss in his season debut. He allowed seven hits, two walks and five runs while fanning three in 3 1/3 innings.
Texas opened the scoring in the second inning. Alejandro Osuna singled and Jarred Kelenic walked to start the rally. Higashioka bunted and reached on a single, loading the bases, when first baseman Connor Norby did not retreat to cover the bag.
Nicky Lopez picked up an RBI on a groundout. Alcantara then fielded Joc Pederson’s comebacker and threw Kelenic out at the plate, and Wyatt Langford flied out to end the threat.
Hernandez homered on the first pitch in the bottom of the second, tying the score. It was a 416-foot shot to center, the longest blast of the night.
Mack went deep in the fourth to give Miami a 2-1 lead, ambushing a 3-0 fastball clocked at 96 mph.
Miami added four more runs in the fifth inning. Caissie jumped on a first-pitch changeup for a three-run blast to right, and Hernandez later doubled and scored on Mack’s single.
Texas socked a pair of solo homers late in the game off Miami’s bullpen, with Brandon Nimmo going deep in the eighth and Pederson doing so in the ninth. Also in the ninth, Nimmo added an RBI triple, but closer Pete Fairbanks got Josh Jung on a flyout to the warning track to end the game. Had the ball gone out, it would have tied the score.
