Phillies beat Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara again as Nick Maton’s homer powers 2-1 win

MIAMI — Raise your hand if you had Bailey Falter and Nick Maton lifting the Phillies to a victory over the Cy Young Award favorite in Game 141 of a playoff-relevant season.

Yeah, didn’t think so.

But that’s how it went Tuesday night. Instead of Zack Wheeler on the mound and Nick Castellanos in right field, Falter cruised for six innings, Maton smashed a two-run homer in the seventh, and the Phillies edged Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara — again — 2-1 to open a series before a friends-and-family gathering (announced crowd: 5,801) in Miami.

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“That’s been kind of how it’s been all year,” interim manager Rob Thomson said. “These kids have come up from the minor leagues and just played well, fit right in, and contributed almost on a daily basis. They’ve been great.”

With 21 games remaining, the Phillies reduced their magic number to 18 over the Milwaukee Brewers to clinch a playoff spot. The Brewers beat the Cardinals 8-4 on Tuesday night.

The Phillies trailed, 1-0, in the seventh inning, having gotten little going against Alcantara save for leaving the bases loaded in the fourth, when Maton stepped to the plate with one out. The super-sub, filling in again for injured Castellanos, hit an 0-2 sinker off the scoreboard above the right-field bullpen.

“Lost my mind,” Falter said. “I was fired up. Just gave some high fives, jumped up and down a little bit. Ran down [to the dugout], gave him a hug. It was good.”

Nicknamed “Wolfie” by teammates for reasons that he won’t share, Maton brings energy to the clubhouse and the field. Lately, he’s also delivered power. It was his third homer in his last four games. He’s also the only player to take Alcantara deep twice this season, having hit a solo shot against him last week at Citizens Bank Park.

“I’m just happy it’s me,” Maton said.

The Phillies were attracted to Alcantara like a magnet this season. They played six series against the Marlins and faced the 27-year-old right-hander six times. And while he has a 2.24 ERA in 23 starts against everyone else, he allowed 15 runs in 42⅔ innings for a 3.16 ERA against the Phillies.

Consider it a confidence builder. When the playoffs roll around — and yes, it’s OK to start using the “P” word — the Phillies will face ace starters on the regular. It’s good to be able to draw on the experiences when they beat this season’s ace of aces in the National League.

“Every time you walk out there and you see Sandy’s throwing, you’ve got to grind it out,” Maton said. “I feel like every time we play him it’s a battle. I think we just work hard to come out on top.”

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Alcantara lost to the Phillies every which way. He was charged with the game-tying run that scored on a single by Didi Gregorius in the eighth inning of an eventual 3-2 Phillies victory on June 13. He allowed back-to-back seventh-inning doubles to Darick Hall and J.T. Realmuto in a hard-luck 2-1 loss July 15. The Phillies rallied for three runs against him in the eighth inning for a rousing, come-from-behind 4-3 victory Aug. 10.

This time, they had Alcantara on the proverbial ropes in the fourth inning but Maton hit a two-out tapper back to the mound. Otherwise, he dominated until the seventh inning. And even then, Jean Segura’s one-out single to right field hardly seemed menacing. But Alcantara hung a sinker to Maton, who turned it back around.

“To beat a guy like that, you’ve got to pitch well, you’ve got to play defense, and like tonight, you get a bloop and a blast and hold them off,” Thomson said. “We’ve done that when he’s pitched.”

Given their choice, the Phillies would prefer that Wheeler and Aaron Nola start the first two games of a playoff series, especially the best-of-three wild-card round.

But who should start Game 3?

The guess here is the Phillies would go with lefty Ranger Suárez, possibly with Zach Eflin behind him. It’s worth wondering, though, if Falter has pitched his way into the conversation.

“We’ll have to talk about it, figure it out,” Thomson said. “He sure has helped us since Wheels has been down. He’s a big part of this club.”

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The Phillies are 6-0 in Falter’s last six starts. The misnamed lefty gave up a solo homer to Bryan De La Cruz in the fifth inning and little else other than a bunch of fly balls and grounders to third baseman Alec Bohm (four in six innings).

With Wheeler missing his last four turns in the rotation because of right elbow inflammation, Falter stepped in and allowed a total of seven runs in 23⅔ innings for a 2.66 ERA. Most impressive, he didn’t walk a batter in any of the starts.

“Every time I walk somebody, 99.9% [chance] that guy’s scoring,” Falter said. “I’d rather just have them put it in play. You’ve got eight other guys out there behind you. Use them, you know?”

José Alvarado, Seranthony Domínguez, and David Robertson passed the bullpen baton for the final nine outs. And they were dominant.

The three relievers blew through the Marlins’ lineup — nine up, nine down — with one hold-your-breath moment: Brian Anderson’s warning-track fly ball to center field in the ninth inning.

Alvarado was particularly impressive. He struck out Charles LeBlanc, got Jacob Stallings to ground out to Bohm, and fanned De La Cruz on a total of 12 pitches. Alvarado has allowed one run (and only three walks) in 14⅔ innings since Aug. 3.