Joe Mack kept swinging the loudest, Sandy Alcantara kept the Mets off the board, and the Marlins left Citi Field with a 2-0 win Sunday afternoon and a series victory in Queens.
Miami’s run since its franchise-record 12-game skid has turned sharp in a hurry. The Marlins have now won six of their last seven as Monday’s 6 p.m. ET Trade Deadline approaches, and they entered Sunday sitting 1 1/2 games behind the Phillies for the final National League Wild Card.
Mack broke through for the game’s first run in the fifth inning, jumping on a full-count cutter from Robert Stock and sending it over the right-center-field wall. The homer was one of 11 on the year for the rookie catcher, and four of those have come with Alcantara on the mound.
Since debuting on May 4, Mack has quietly stacked up one of the better catching profiles in the league. Among Major League catchers with at least 210 plate appearances, he entered Sunday fourth in wins above replacement at 1.7, per FanGraphs, and tied for fifth in homers with 11.
Alcantara did the rest with a clean, efficient outing that stretched six-plus innings. The right-hander has now turned in back-to-back scoreless starts, and his season ERA dropped to 3.68, its lowest point since May 16, when it sat at 3.53.
The Mets made their first push in the third, when the first two batters reached. Alcantara answered by retiring 12 of the next 14 hitters, settling the game down until the seventh.
That’s where things got messy. Consecutive hits opened the inning and put two Mets runners in scoring position, ending Alcantara’s afternoon and bringing in Michael Petersen.
Petersen, whose name has surfaced in Deadline rumors, had already been tagged with the decisive runs in Thursday’s loss in his return from a comebacker off his forearm last Sunday. This time, he slammed the door.
With the infield in, Petersen walked Marcus Semien to load the bases, then punched out Jorge Polanco on a slider and Francisco Alvarez on a 98.5 mph four-seamer. He finished the escape by getting A.J. Ewing to ground out to second.
In Other News...
Marlins Deadline Approach Just Got More Complicated Than Fans Expected
The Marlins deadline picture is starting to take shape, and it is not centered on the biggest name in the room. Miami is still weighing whether to move pieces before the trade deadline, but the most active conversations appear to be around catcher Liam Hicks and first baseman-outfielder Kyle Stowers, two players who could draw interest from clubs looking for help without paying top-tier prices.
Hicks has already popped up in talks with teams such as the Rays and Red Sox, while the Yankees are not involved there. Sandy Alcantara remains the headline asset on paper, but Miami has made it clear he is not expected to be moved before the deadline, which leaves the Marlins sorting through a trickier middle ground than a simple teardown or a full stand pat. [Read more 🡒]
Marlins Just Made A Catcher Move Fans Will Want Explained
The Marlins have made a notable move behind the plate, sending catcher Liam Hicks to the Tampa Bay Rays in a deal that brings back three prospects: infielder Brayden Taylor, infielder Adrian Santana and right-hander Jacob Kisting. Hicks was under team control through 2030 and had been producing a strong 2026 season, so this is the kind of trade that naturally gets attention from a fan base trying to understand where the organization is headed next.
Miami is betting on upside in the return, with all three players sitting among Tampa Bays top 30 prospects before the deal. Hicks, meanwhile, gives the Rays a catcher they view as ready to handle a bigger role, while the Marlins add more young talent to a system that keeps trying to build depth and flexibility for what comes next. [Read more 🡒]
Rays Catching Need Just Put A New Marlins Trade Target In Play
The Marlins have spent plenty of the summer sorting through trade chatter around their young, controllable bats, and that conversation has only grown louder as the deadline nears. First baseman/outfielder Kyle Stowers has steadied himself since June, while catcher-first baseman Liam Hicks has given Miami a productive option on both sides of the ball, the kind of player other clubs can justify chasing because of the years of control still attached.
Miami is expected to listen on a range of possibilities, and the catching market has become especially interesting with teams looking for help behind the plate. That has pushed Hicks into a more prominent spot in the rumor mill alongside Stowers, with several clubs keeping tabs on the Marlins situation and weighing whether the ask makes sense for a player who could fit a contender's roster for more than just a few months. [Read more 🡒]