Brewers Use Timely Hitting Approaches to Beat Marlins

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MIAMI, FL – From the early renderings of the game, Sandy Alcantara struggled to throw strikes, and it cost him some runs. The bullpen followed a similar pattern, and the lineup was not effective for Miami today. Throughout the game, the Brewers used timely hitting approaches to beat the Marlins, 5-2.

Liam Hicks Opens the Game’s Scoring

After Liam Hicks got the Marlins in the column to start the second, he was able to score later on and give them their first run. Connor Norby made room for him to score from second base after a base hit snuck past the Brewers’ middle infielders.

Bot 2nd
Brewers 0 | Marlins 1

Connor Norby squeaks in a base hit past the middle infielders, making room for Liam Hicks to score#Marlins #FightinFish pic.twitter.com/tqpjV55Zbk

— Ricardo Urrusuno (@RickScores) April 18, 2026

Sandy Alcantara Throws High Amount of Balls

Alcantara made his fifth start of the season, hoping to bounce back from a disastrous start in Detroit. In the first, he got by with a nine-pitch inning capped off by a double play. Alcantara had to work through the second, tossing 23 pitches.

In the third inning, the Marlins faced trouble. Alcantara gave Joey Ortiz, William Contreras, and Brice Turang each a free pass to first base. With the bases loaded and a single out, it felt for a moment as if the Brewers were going to threaten to do something big.

The Marlins escape a potential third inning jam by turning two on this play with the bases loaded#Marlins #FightinFish pic.twitter.com/zLaypCE7N3

— Ricardo Urrusuno (@RickScores) April 18, 2026

Pitching coach Daniel Moskos had to go make a mound visit and give him some words of encouragement to get past his command struggles. Fortunately, luck was on Alcantara’s side as he was able to force Gary Sanchez to ground out into a double play to end the inning.

The Brewers struck in the fourth inning with a run. Brandon Lockridge scored Luis Rengifo on an RBI base hit to tie things at one apiece. Milwaukee took the lead in the fifth. A big double for Contreras set the stage for Turang to drive him in on a 406-foot two-run homer, making it a 3-1 ballgame.

Five innings were enough on his plate. Alcantara struggled to throw pitches in the strike zone. 43 of his 97 pitches were balls, and he gave up six walks. Out of the 24 hitters he faced, Alcantara went through nine three-ball counts. He finished the game, surrendering five hits, three runs, and a home run on just a single strikeout.

Anthony Bender comes in the game, replacing Sandy Alcantara

Alcantara has seen worse days, but he threw too many balls on the mound today

His stat line: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 6 BB, 1 K, 1 HR, 97 TP#Marlins #FightinFish

— Ricardo Urrusuno (@RickScores) April 18, 2026

Milwaukee picked up on his approach early in the game and took advantage by sitting on their pitches. Sandy Alcantara got just 18% of hitters to chase his pitches.

Bullpen Continues Walk Trend

Anthony Bender took on the mound in the sixth, and he had to work his way through the inning. The 6’4 right-hander had to toss 26 pitches just to get through 0.2 innings. Milwaukee scored its fourth run on a fielder’s choice RBI from Sal Frelick that got overturned after video review. It was determined that Garrett Mitchell was safe at the plate.

Top 6th
Brewers 5 | Marlins 1

Brice Turang gets his third RBI of the afternoon, scoring Joey Ortiz on this play#Marlins #FightinFish pic.twitter.com/f06ijO5PJN

— Ricardo Urrusuno (@RickScores) April 18, 2026

Turang added to the damage by driving in his third run of the game, scoring Ortiz. Bender’s outing from the bullpen gets mixed reviews here. 14 of his 26 pitches were balls. Despite allowing two hits and two runs, he did record two strikeouts as well.

Lake Bachar settled things down for the Brewers offensively. In 2.1 innings, he didn’t allow any hits or runs but did have to throw a decent number of pitches. 18 of his 40 pitches were out of the strike zone.

John King tossed a scoreless ninth in his 10th appearance. King gave up a walk and had a strikeout. He has consistently been a reliable arm out of the bullpen for the club.

Quiet Day for Lineup Until Ninth

Miami just couldn’t get anything going with its lineup from top to bottom. They totaled eight hits, and Norby and Hicks had two of them. Javier Sanoja was the only player to draw a walk.

It’s not like the Marlins struck out many times either, as they had just four in the game. There weren’t many opportunities for runners to advance, as the team went 2-for-7 with runners in scoring position. Miami left seven runners on base.

The Marlins started a late ninth-inning rally. They loaded the bases but didn’t do too much. Heriberto Hernandez grounded into a force out, making it 5-2. Sanoja ended the game on a groundout.

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