PHILADELPHIA -- Sandy Alcantara spent much of his outing on Friday against the Phillies flirting with danger, routinely working his way into and, more importantly, out of trouble.

The Marlins right-hander allowed eight hits, issued four walks and uncorked a pair of wild pitches over 7 2/3 innings. He had only one clean frame -- and that didn't come until the sixth. Yet despite all of that, Alcantara allowed only one run in Miami's 2-1 victory at Citizens Bank Park. Even the one run he did concede came on a play that began with one of his six strikeouts.

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With runners on the corners and one out in the third, Alcantara struck out Jay Bruce, but Roman Quinn scampered home from third after the Marlins were unsuccessful trying to throw out Bryce Harper stealing second. Though just as he did for much of the night, Alcantara bounced right back, getting J.T. Realmuto to ground out to limit the damage.

"That was tremendous," manager Don Mattingly said of Alcantara's outing. "I thought Sandy was really good today. Kept his composure, had a couple chances to let it get away, but got some big outs. That was a really nice win for us. That’s a nice little character win."

Alcantara's biggest jam of the night came one inning after the double steal. After yielding a two-out single, Alcantara walked opposing starter Aaron Nola and followed with another free pass to Quinn to load the bases for Harper. Alcantara retired the Phillies' slugger on a towering fly ball to right field to strand all three runners -- and preserve the 1-1 tie.

"That’s a huge out. That’s a game-changing situation," Mattingly said. "You’ve got Harper up there, who’s obviously dangerous at all times. It looked like he just missed it, but that was a huge out for us to keep the game right there."

Alcantara credited catcher Bryan Holaday, who also homered in the second inning, for calling the right pitch to get Harper -- a slider spotted right on the inside corner.

"I’ve got a superstar hitting with the bases loaded," Alcantara said. "Just want to make my best pitch. I was working with Holaday behind the plate, and he called the slider, and I threw the perfect pitch."

Alcantara, who had never crossed the 100-pitch threshold previously, threw 112 pitches before turning it over to the bullpen with a 2-1 lead and runners on the corners with two outs in the eighth. Left-handed reliever José Quijada followed Alcantara's lead, striking out pinch-hitter Sean Rodriguez to end the threat.

The Marlins couldn't have asked for a better time for Alcantara to eat up 7 2/3 innings. After needing 33 outs from its bullpen over the previous two games -- a pair of 11-inning contests against the Cardinals -- Miami's 'pen needed to record just four outs for the victory on Friday.

"I never give up," Alcantara said. "I try to go out there and limit the pitches and, in the seventh inning, the manager comes to me and said, ‘Hey, you OK?’ And I said, 'Yeah,' and he told me, ‘OK, keep going.’ So I got out there and tried to be aggressive, and get quick outs."

That aggressive approach has served the 23-year-old righty quite well over his last five starts, during which he's compiled a 1.71 ERA. Though he still has room to improve -- he's issued 16 walks over 31 2/3 innings in those five outings -- Alcantara has earned the praise of his skipper.

"I see a guy getting better and gaining confidence," Mattingly said. "This guy’s got tremendous stuff. He’s got top-of-the-rotation stuff. We’re just constantly helping him to grow. This kid has the chance to be something really special."

If the last five starts are any indication, Alcantara is certainly on the right track, but Mattingly expects even bigger things from the young righty going forward.

"I think his confidence is coming now," Mattingly said. "We’re just pushing this kid to get better and better -- and he keeps stepping up."