MIAMI (AP) — Sandy Alcantara never stopped believing in himself.
Not when Tommy John surgery robbed him of the 2024 season. Not when 2025 ended in a disappointing 11-12 record, and a 5.36 ERA.
Instead, he “always kept the faith.”
Alcantara threw the first complete game of the MLB season in a 93-pitch shutout on Wednesday, leading the Miami Marlins to a 10-0 domination of the Chicago White Sox.
It was Alcantara’s second career shutout with fewer than 100 pitches, known as a “Maddux” in honor of Hall of Famer Greg Maddux.
Alcantara also threw his 13th career complete game and fifth shutout.
“Many negative things happened last year but that didn’t hold me back trying to be better,” Alcantara said. “This year, I am going to give my best every time, win more games and be more aggressive in counts. Today, as a club, we did a tremendous job.”
The White Sox did not have a hitter reach second as Alcantara (2-0) scattered three singles, hit a batter and struck out seven. After a dominant outing against Colorado in the season-opener, the 2022 NL Cy Young Award winner extended his scoreless streak to 15 innings.
Alcantara used six pitches to shut down the White Sox. Although his changeup and four-seam fastball were mostly used in his outing, Alcantara also utilized his slider, sweeper, sinker and cutter to carve through the Chicago lineup.
“Everything was working. Everything was good today,” Alcantara said. “I think I did a great job, trying to not miss much.”
Alcantara’s battery mate Liam Hicks continued his torrid offensive start as he homered, had two singles and drove in four runs to give him a major league-leading 12 RBIs.
“It was fun,” Hicks said of catching Alcantara’s gem. “He had a lot of pitches working. When you’re back there and he’s rolling like that, it’s cool to see. It makes your job catching easy.”
As Alcantara accumulated quick outs, the decision became easier for manager Clayton McCullough to allow his ace to pitch the ninth. With Alcantara needing only three pitches to retire the White Sox in the eighth, it became an easy call.
“I gave him a thumbs up and he gave me a thumbs up,” McCullough said.
He called the outing remarkable.
“It’s hard to do that today, to go nine innings with how you view workload," McCullough said. "Hitters are good. He was so efficient and guys played great behind him.”
There were 29 complete games thrown last season, and pitchers threw just 13 shutouts, the lowest in a non-shortened season since 1873.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Miami Marlins third baseman Javier Sanoja, right, hugs starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara after he pitched a complete game shut out against the Chicago White Sox, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Miami Marlins starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara (22) pitches during the first inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Miami Marlins starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara reacts cooly after pitching a complete game shut out baseball game against the Chicago White Sox, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — New DNA testing has definitively linked the unsolved death of a Utah teenager in 1974 to the infamous serial killer Ted Bundy, the local sheriff’s office said Wednesday.
Laura Ann Aime, 17, went missing Halloween night 51 years ago after she left a party alone to go to a convenience store. About a month later, her body was found on the side of a highway in American Fork Canyon. She was bound, beaten and without clothing. Authorities said she had likely been kept alive for several days after her abduction.
Investigators long suspected that Bundy was responsible — police said he verbally acknowledged his culpability before his execution in Florida in 1989 — but the case remained open until they could be certain.
“It's really quite amazing that people are even still interested in Laura's case,” her sister, Michelle Impala, said at a news conference Wednesday. “Know I speak for my family when I thank you, and thank you media, too, for even caring.”
Bundy was one of the nation’s most prolific serial killers, with at least 30 women and girls’ deaths linked to him in several states in the 1970s. His murders — which occurred in sorority houses, parks and elsewhere — set the nation on edge. Bundy’s arrest drew widespread fascination, in part because many considered him to be charming and handsome.
Investigators had carefully preserved the evidence from Aime’s case, and forensic analysts were able to identify portions that seemed most likely to have usable DNA samples, Utah Department of Public Safety Commissioner Beau Mason said.
The state crime lab got new technology in 2023 that allows investigators to extract DNA from samples even if they are small, degraded from age or contain DNA from multiple people, he said. That technology allowed them to identify a single male DNA profile, which they submitted to a national law enforcement database.
Bundy’s DNA was a match, Mason said.
That profile can now be used by other law enforcement agencies who have long suspected Bundy of additional unsolved killings, he said, adding that more families could get similar closure.
“Laura Aime is the quintessential daughter of Utah County,” Sgt. Mike Reynolds said. “We felt the pain the family feels when she was taken. We felt the pain that you felt this whole entire time, and we’ve had the desire to deliver to you some type of healing.”
Impala was only 12 when her older sister died. Even with a five-year age gap, she said they were very close and did everything together. They shared a bedroom on the family's farm in Fairview, Utah, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of Provo.
“I'm a little kid just following her around, but we had a lot in common," Impala said.
Impala reminisced about about riding horses with her sister and watching Aime feed her horse licorice nibs.
“When she died, he would not eat those anymore,” she said.
It’s not known when Bundy first began his attacks, but by 1974, young women — many of them college students — began disappearing in Washington state. Authorities were still investigating those cases when Bundy moved to Salt Lake City and began killing people in Utah, Idaho and Colorado.
At the time of Aime’s killing, Bundy was studying law at the University of Utah.
In August 1975, he was arrested for the first time in connection with the attacks. Police pulled him over and found incriminating items in his vehicle including rope, handcuffs and a ski mask.
He was found guilty the following year of kidnapping and assaulting a teen in Utah who had managed to get away. Bundy was sentenced to 15 years in prison for that crime, and while imprisoned he was charged in connection with the earlier death of a nursing student.
He was brought to Aspen, Colorado, for a hearing in that case in 1977, and he escaped custody by climbing out a second-story courthouse window when he was left alone for a time. He was caught after about a week, but escaped again six months later by breaking through the ceiling of a jail.
Bundy fled across the country, eventually making his way to Tallahassee, Florida. On Jan. 15, 1977, he entered the Chi Omega sorority house at Florida State University, bludgeoning two women to death with a large branch and leaving two more badly injured. He then went to another house nearby, badly injuring another woman.
Less than a month later, he abducted, sexually assaulted and killed a 12-year-old girl in Lake City, Florida. Kimberly Leach was believed to be his last victim before he was arrested again and executed years later.
Boone reported from Boise, Idaho.
Brent Bullock, center left, who led investigations at the Utah County Attorney's Office around the time of Laura Ann Aime's murder, shakes hands with Michelle Impala, Aime's younger sister, after a news conference at the Utah County Sheriff's Office in Spanish Fork, Utah, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, announcing definitive evidence linking Ted Bundy to Aime's murder. (Isaac Hale/The Deseret News via AP)
Michelle Impala, right, sister of Laura Ann Aime, speaks, joined by Utah County Sheriff Mike Smith, during a news conference announcing that definitive evidence has linked Ted Bundy to Aime's murder, at the Utah County Sheriff's Office, in Spanish Fork, Utah, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (Isaac Hale/The Deseret News via AP)
Utah County Sheriff's Deputy Jake Hall, lead detective on the case, looks to other family members as he hugs Tommi Aime, youngest sister of Laura Ann Aime, after announcing that definitive evidence has linked Ted Bundy to Laura's murder at a news conference at the Utah County Sheriff's Office, in Spanish Fork, Utah, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (Isaac Hale/The Deseret News via AP)
FILE - Mourners say goodbye to Kimberly Leach at her funeral, April 13, 1978, in Lake City, Fla. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Accused murderer Ted Bundy attends the second day of jury selection in his murder trial, June 27, 1979, in Miami, Fla. (AP Photo,File)
FILE - Accused murderer Ted Bundy leans back in his chair as trial judge Edward Cowart speaks, in Tallahassee, Fla., April 26, 1979. (AP Photo/Mark Foley, File)
