Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara limited the St Louis Cardinals to five hits and a walk while striking out nine, as the Cardinals were denied the sweep Wednesday, Aug. 20 in Miami with a 6-2 loss.

Alcantara’s only earned run came by way of a solo home run to Willson Contreras in the sixth. Yohel Pozo again took advantage of a passed ball on a swinging strikeout in the fifth, reaching first when the ball got away from Agustín Ramírez. He would score when Lars Nootbaar claimed a ground-rule double over the right-field fence.

Cardinals starter Andre Pallante faced trouble early, allowing two singles and a walk to start the second, setting up a double-play that allowed Hariberto Hernández to score. Hernández then made use of a successful double-steal to score both runners on a single to center field in the next inning. The Marlins also scored in the fifth off a Troy Johnston single, but a successful play at third and pickoff at second kept the Marlins from adding any more runs that inning. Pallante’s night was done after allowing a solo home run to Maximo Acosta, the Venezuelan’s first Major League hit. Pallante took the loss after 5.1 innings, allowing five runs on eight hits and three walks with four strikeouts. The Marlins would add a run in the eighth with a bases-loaded walk.

The Cardinals are now 63-65, 16.5 games behind Milwaukee in the NL Central and still five games behind the Mets in the wild card standings. The Redbirds will fly north to Tampa for the start of a three-game series at the Rays. First pitch from Steinbrenner Field is at 6:35 p.m., with Sonny Gray getting the start.