PHOENIX -- The Marlins have not hesitated testing the limits of rookie right-hander Sandy Alcantara down the stretch. And the organization has shown no intention of scaling back his workload in the final week and a half.

Alcantara reached a franchise milestone on Wednesday afternoon at Chase Field, setting Miami’s club record for innings pitched by a rookie. The 24-year-old, who is making a case to enter 2020 as the team’s ace, logged 5 2/3 innings, though he yielded five runs (four earned) on seven hits and two walks in a 5-4 loss to the D-backs.

Alcantara is now at 184 1/3 innings this season, topping the 180 2/3 thrown by Scott Olsen in 2006.

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“I feel really good about that,” Alcantara said. “I come from the Dominican Republic, and I got ready there in the offseason to come here and compete. I want to finish strong. I’ve got two starts left. I want to finish healthy and give 100 percent.”

Starlin Castro and Austin Dean each homered off Arizona starter Mike Leake, but Miami was unable to pull off a late-inning rally, and it ended up dropping two of three in the series. The Marlins went 2-4 on the road trip.

Even though Alcantara didn’t have his best stuff, he again found a way to keep his team in the game and did his part to preserve the bullpen.

“Today wasn’t my day,” Alcantara said. “You want to be perfect all the time, but today wasn’t my day. But I was competing. I just want to be out there going as deep as I can in the game. But you’re going to have bad days. Today wasn’t my day.”

In terms of Wednesday’s outcome, Alcantara was critical of himself. Overall, he has a chance to come close to logging 200 innings, a benchmark no Marlins starter has reached since Mark Buehrle (202 1/3) in 2012.

Shortstop Miguel Rojas, who broke in with the Dodgers in 2014, was on a squad that year that had three starters who either reached 200 innings or came close -- Zack Greinke (202 1/3), Clayton Kershaw (198 1/3) and Dan Haren (186).

“That can change the course of some organization’s path,” Rojas said. “Having the opportunity to experience that, not just with one, [but] with three different pitchers. ... Every time they went out there, we had an opportunity to win.”

When Eduardo Escobar grounded to Rojas to open the third inning, the out officially established a Marlins franchise rookie record for innings pitched. It marked the 181st inning for Alcantara, topping Olsen’s previous standard.

If he isn’t shut down, Alcantara could make two more starts, including the final game of the season on Sept. 29 vs. the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. It will be tough for him to reach 200 innings, but he could get close to it.

Marlins manager Don Mattingly noted that with upcoming opponents the Mets and the Phillies still in the playoff equation, Miami’s plan is to start Alcantara.

“Out of respect for everybody in the league, you want to play well in these last three series and give your best effort to win games,” Mattingly said.

Wednesday’s outing snapped a string of seven straight starts in which Alcantara made it through at least six innings.

The start also was Alcantara’s 30th, making him the third Marlins rookie to reach that benchmark. Olsen (2006) and Brian Meadows (1998) each had 31.

Overall, Wednesday’s outing was a choppy one for Alcantara, who gave up a homer to Abraham Almonte to lead off the first. In the second, he was hurt by a leadoff walk to Jake Lamb, after which Domingo Leyba followed with an RBI triple and Jarrod Dyson added a one-out RBI single. Christian Walker homered with two outs in the fifth.

“In the first half of the season, I had a couple of bad starts, but I never gave up,” Alcantara said. “I’ve got to work hard to get better and be ready for my next one.”