Springfield's Alcantara puts up six zeros
Sandy Alcantara already had a mid- to high-90s fastball, but he needed to complement it with sharper breaking pitches. On Thursday night, the No. 7 Cardinals prospect did just that. Alcantara allowed two hits and four walks while striking out four over six scoreless frames to lead Double-A Springfield to a 6-3
Alcantara allowed two hits and four walks while striking out four over six scoreless frames to lead Double-A Springfield to a 6-3 win over Arkansas at Hammons Field.
It marked the right-hander's first victory since his April 18 outing against Midland.
Gameday box score
"He's obviously trying to fill up the zone with his fastball," Springfield pitching coach Jason Simontacchi said. "As of late, the last couple of games, guys have been eliminating that curveball because he hasn't been able to throw it for strikes or the slider.
"He's been pretty much been working on that, and he did a good job throwing it for strikes early and late in the count. Obviously with his fastball and the velocity it has, it makes it a lot more difficult for guys to sit on it."
Alcantara (3-4) struggled through May with an 8.06 ERA and a 1.64 WHIP in five starts. But in three June outings, the 21-year-old sports a 1.06 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP. Simontacchi thinks the young starter is doing a better job of using offspeed pitches to change the eye level of opposing hitters.
"The curveball's the one pitch that he's got that has the north-south spectrum of the strike zone," Simontacchi said. "With that being said, his fastball and slider are going east-west. Even with his changeup, there's a little depth to it, but most of the time it's east-west.
"With him being able to get that curveball over and throw it for strikes, that north-south really works for him. And when you throw 96-97 [mph], you throw a little wrinkle in there with the curveball."
The native of the Dominican Republic set down six of seven hitters, working around a walk to
"Today, it looked like he had a good feel for [his pitches], and it was a matter of him taking it into the game," Simontacchi said. "He threw a couple of curveballs in the beginning and a couple of sliders in the beginning. He got them close -- near-misses. Just when you see them buckle, lefties or righties, they buckle a little bit if they give up on the ball. I think it gave him more confidence and allowed him to throw it as the game went on."
With two outs in the third, Alcantara walked
"He was actually starting to fall off a little bit with his mechanics," Simontacchi said. "He was pushing the ball, missing arm-side. I'm not sure if the ump was squeezing him or not. It was just the fact that they were close misses, but he was just falling off. I was just trying to get him back on line to stay to his target, just [so] that his fastball stays more true over the plate."
Alcantara retired seven of the last nine batters he faced.
"I was just happy for him, because I know he works his butt off to get to where he's at and he wants to get better," Simontacchi said. "And to see the results that he got tonight, it was a little gratification for his effort."
In four starts since May 28, Alcantara has reduced his ERA from 7.12 to 5.48. Simontacchi expects that number to continue to decrease.
"He's eager and he's hungry and he wants to absorb," he said. "He wants to get better. It's a difficult time for him because he's learning to start to command his fastball better. He's starting to become a pitcher instead of just a thrower. He's really put it upon himself to pay attention to what's going on during the game. Like tonight, the game slowed down for him, which is good. He starts pitching instead of just throwing and relying on that fastball."
Jose Adolis Garcia homered and doubled, while
Andrew Battifarano is a contributor to MiLB.com. Follow him on Twitter, @AndrewAtBatt.