Alcantara's zeros, Mack's blast have Marlins believing as Deadline nears

NEW YORK -- Michael Petersen joked that he plans on turning off his phone and chucking it into a lake during the Marlins' off-day Monday. Pete Fairbanks is finally going to watch “The Odyssey.”

Since its franchise-record 12-game skid, Miami has won six of seven leading into Monday’s 6 p.m. ET Trade Deadline after Sunday afternoon’s 2-0 victory over the Mets at Citi Field. Now we wait to see what becomes of the Marlins, who entered Sunday 1 1/2 games behind the Phillies for the final National League Wild Card.

“Everyone knows where things stand right now just as far as we're getting to the last couple months of the season, and this is where teams will separate,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “... Right now, we're going to Atlanta, and we need to go play well and try to win some games. And then whoever comes up next, this can be a very similar mindset. But it's not lost on anybody in that clubhouse that we need to just worry about winning games.”

That’s exactly what the Marlins did in the series finale, as right-hander Sandy Alcantara tossed six-plus innings and batterymate Joe Mack homered.

With the game scoreless in the fifth, Mack took righty Robert Stock deep, sending a full-count cutter over the right-center-field wall. Four of his 11 homers have come in Alcantara’s starts.

Since debuting on May 4, Mack entered the series finale ranked as follows among Major League catchers with at least 210 plate appearances: fourth in wins above replacement (1.7, per FanGraphs) and tied for fifth in homers (11). His +8 fielding run value is the best, and his 19 caught stealings were tied for the most.

Alcantara, meanwhile, has posted back-to-back scoreless starts and lowered his season ERA to 3.68 -- the lowest it has been since May 16 (3.53). He leads the Majors with 156 2/3 innings and 17 quality starts.

The combination of veteran and inexperienced talent, epitomized by this battery, makes the Marlins believe they are a postseason-caliber club.

“Absolutely. Without a doubt in my mind,” Mack said. “You look around this clubhouse and you've just got a lot of talent. We all have it, and we go out and play the game as best as we can, and feed off of each other. So when you have those two things working together, then it's going to be a good team.”

Added Alcantara: “I think the way that we've been doing out on the field is tremendous, so I think we’ve got to keep it together.”

After the first two batters reached in the third, Alcantara retired 12 of the next 14 until trouble in the seventh. Consecutive hits to open the inning placed a pair of Mets runners in scoring position, chasing Alcantara and ushering in Petersen to limit the damage.

Petersen, whose name has come up in Deadline rumors, allowed the decisive runs in Thursday’s loss in his return from a comebacker off the forearm last Sunday.

With the infield in, Petersen walked Marcus Semien to load the bases before striking out Jorge Polanco on a slider and Francisco Alvarez on a 98.5 mph four-seamer. Petersen completed his escape act by inducing a groundout to second from A.J. Ewing.

“My path in my career helps, because my back's been against the wall for 10 years, so it really doesn't matter what's going on in baseball,” said Petersen, who recorded his team-leading 18th hold. “I pitch with my back against the wall. When you're in [a] leverage situation, it's literal. But when you're the last man on a roster and you're pitching a 13-1 ballgame, your back's still against the wall. You're trying to put up a zero before you get optioned or DFA'd, and I just keep that mentality.”

Righty Tyler Zuber worked around a leadoff double in the eighth, while closer Fairbanks recorded his fourth consecutive save this week.

Fairbanks, whom the Marlins signed to a franchise-record deal over the offseason, is the only expiring contract on the roster. This isn’t his first time being included in trade talk, and he understands the situation is out of his control. Still, Fairbanks has enjoyed being a part of the group and believes it is capable of a postseason run.

“I've thought that since Day 1,” Fairbanks said. “Regardless of the ups and downs of the season, I think that this group can pitch it and can pick it. And typically, when you can pitch it and pick it and get enough offense, you're going to be a good ballclub. If that ends up not being the case, it ends up not being the case. I think that we're a good ballclub, and a stretch of losses in leverage games should not change the general opinion.”