WASHINGTON -- Before the ball landed 406 feet away from home plate in the Marlins’ bullpen, Sandy Alcantara knew. Before Brian Dozier’s two-run shot touched turf, Alcantara had his hands on his hips after slapping one against his jet black glove and letting out a huff of frustration through a tucked bottom lip.

“Just missed my spot with a pitch,” Alcantara said, “and they hit a homer.”

It was an 0-2 breaking ball Alcantara was supposed to bounce or, at the very least, keep out of the strike zone. It ended up being a middle-middle slider Dozier was able to sail far above anyone’s head to seal what was eventually a 3-1 loss for the Marlins.

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It was also a microcosm of Alcantara’s season -- one loaded with promise but still beset with growing pains. It’s also been one that rewarded him with a nod to the 2019 All-Star Game in Cleveland on Tuesday.

• All-Star Game presented by Mastercard: Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. ET on FOX

“He’s getting better, but [we] still see some inconsistencies of the aggressiveness,” Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. “And even right there, it’s [an] 0-2 breaking ball that you throw for a strike instead of bouncing it or making it be a pitch that he can’t really handle.

“For the most part, [he's] getting better, but then you see the inconsistencies.”

Mattingly said before Wednesday night's loss to the Nationals -- Miami’s fifth consecutive defeat to Washington -- that the past month has been the best he’s seen from Alcantara.

It’s true Alcantara has had some electric starts included in his past six -- two one-run efforts across seven-plus innings and another quality start -- but mixed in have been some difficult outings. His previous time out before Wednesday, also against the Nationals, was last Thursday, when he cruised through five innings before being pulled in the sixth. Alcantara was tagged for six runs.

Outside of some untimely walks on Wednesday night, there were few issues with Alcantara's performance before the sixth. He is starting to show his coaching staff that carrying a shutout into the sixth, at the least, should start becoming less of a surprise.

“We’re getting into games and you see his stuff is more consistent,” Mattingly said. “You see a few walks today, but in general we see a guy that is getting better all the time. [It's] just the consistency, [from] one outing to the next.”

Wednesday, at its core, was another positive progression for the 23-year-old. Alcantara made only one major mistake on a night he struggled with his pitch count, despite not giving up much and receiving no help from his offense against a very impressive Stephen Strasburg (14 strikeouts, including an immaculate inning).

Alcantara had five strikeouts, two of which came consecutively to escape a bases-loaded jam in the fourth created by an error and a couple of walks.

“[He has] stuff that you think, at some point, he’s going to dominate,” Mattingly said, “or have the chance to basically be what their guy [Strasburg] was over there tonight.”

The third time through the order was the dagger for Alcantara once again. Entering Wednesday, he had allowed more homers and almost as many doubles when facing a lineup the third time through compared with the second, in 32 fewer plate appearances. Alcantara's 10.76 ERA in the sixth -- an inning he’s touched 11 out of 17 times after Wednesday -- is more than three runs higher than for any other frame.

Frustration in that respect Wednesday manifested in the hand imprint left on his glove.

“You never win a game if you don't get 27 outs,” Alcantara said. “You are going to miss a couple pitches, and they are going to hit, too.”

Now Alcantara heads to his first All-Star Game to try and show the league that his peaks are far higher than his valleys. He’ll also be there to represent Miami's pitching staff assembled by president of baseball operations Michael Hill and groomed by Mattingly and his staff, and show he is ready to compete.

“When you start to see Sandy and Zac and Jordan [Yamamoto ] -- a number of guys that are getting to the big leagues and having some success -- Mike always talks about the first part of that is that we had to build with pitching,” Mattingly said before Wednesday’s game. “So seeing that fruit start to get to the vine is good, because you know you’re heading in the right direction. … If you look at it with some long-range vision, you see it starting to happen.”