MIAMI (AP) — Sandy Alcantara struck out seven in seven innings of one-run ball, Otto López doubled and tripled, and the Miami Marlins beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 on Sunday.
Kyle Stowers singled and hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly for the Marlins, who clinched the three-game series and finished 3-3 against their in-state rival this season.
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Tampa Bay Rays Taylor Walls signals to the home plate umpire after he was hit by a pitch during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Taylor Walls (6) tags Miami Marlins' Jakob Marsee as he is caught between first and second base during the second inning of a baseball game Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Tampa Bay Rays Victor Mesa Jr. hits a single to right field during the second inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Miami Marlins starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara (22) aims a pitch during the first inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Griffin Jax aims a pitch during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
A day after using seven pitchers in a 4-3 win, the Marlins counted on Alcantara (5-4) to provide length. And the veteran right-hander responded with his second consecutive outing of seven innings or more and fifth of the season. Alcantara scattered five hits, walked one and hit a batter.
Michael Petersen relieved Alcantara and threw a perfect eighth. Anthony Bender worked around a leadoff walk for his second save.
López hit a one-out RBI triple and scored on Stowers’ fly to deep left to give Miami a 2-1 lead in the sixth.
Garrett Cleavinger (1-2) relieved Tampa Bay starter Griffin Jax and walked Liam Hicks. López followed with a drive toward the warning track in right-center, scoring Hicks from first.
The Marlins increased the lead to 4-1 against former starter Steven Matz in the seventh without a base hit.
Esteury Ruiz and Jakob Marsee drew one-out walks and successfully completed a double steal. They both scored when catcher Hunter Feduccia dropped shortstop Taylor Walls’ throw after Walls fielded a grounder hit by Joe Mack and attempted to throw out Ruiz at the plate.
Yandy Díaz put Tampa Bay on the board with an RBI single in the third. Walls reached on a fielder’s choice and then stole second before Díaz hit a line drive that dropped in centerfield.
Jax allowed three hits as he matched a season-high five innings. He walked two and struck out four.
Rays: Have not announced a starter for the opener of a three-game home set against Boston on Monday. LHP Connelly Early (5-3, 3.26) will start for the Red Sox.
Marlins: RHP Max Meyer (6-0, 2.81) will start the opener of a three-game home series against Arizona on Tuesday. The Diamondbacks have not announced a starter.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
Tampa Bay Rays Taylor Walls signals to the home plate umpire after he was hit by a pitch during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Taylor Walls (6) tags Miami Marlins' Jakob Marsee as he is caught between first and second base during the second inning of a baseball game Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Tampa Bay Rays Victor Mesa Jr. hits a single to right field during the second inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Miami Marlins starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara (22) aims a pitch during the first inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Griffin Jax aims a pitch during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Miami. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Rob Sand rallied a crowd for the first time as the official Democratic nominee for Iowa governor on Sunday, kicking off a countdown to November with the support of Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.
The race for governor between Sand and Republican Zach Lahn stands to be one of the most competitive in the country as Iowans face a state budget deficit, struggling agricultural economy and cancer crisis. Democrats are putting faith in him to blaze a trail in the state after struggling electorally in recent cycles, hoping his message of unity will resonate with their fellow Iowans.
A few hundred people in Des Moines roared, waved campaign signs and snapped photos as Sand took the stage, a state flag hanging behind him.
“You might think we have a big hill to climb. I've seen bigger,” Sand said. “We're building a coalition of — not red versus blue — but of the well-fed versus the fed-up.”
Sand, who was unopposed on the primary ballot, learned who his opponent would be after Tuesday’s primary settled an unpredictable five-way Republican contest.
The rally was the first one that Tracy Schloss has ever attended. A lifelong Democrat, Schloss said he doesn't like the state's direction after nearly a decade of total Republican control, saying the leaders have “lost sight of the common people.”
“It's time, you gotta step up or the country will still keep going the way it's going," said the 62-year-old retiree from Ankeny, a suburb of Des Moines.
Schloss said he thinks Sand is a “bright spot" who can get voters excited, and he's more optimistic than he's been in recent years that the election will be a success for Democrats.
Iowa has open races for both governor and U.S. senator for the first time since 1968, plus three battleground congressional races. National attention on the state has soared in recent months, drawing President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance to Iowa.
Democrats still have a 200,000-person deficit in statewide voter registration, and they are outnumbered in every House district. Sand, along with Senate candidate Josh Turek, say they can win over independents and Republicans who are frustrated with party politics and a Republican trifecta in Washington and Des Moines that they blame for the state's challenges.
Turek will face U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, who already has portrayed Turek as a liberal puppet for party leader Sen. Chuck Schumer.
Lahn has also rejected Sand's nonpartisan pitch.
“Rob Sand is not a moderate,” Lahn said in his victory speech Tuesday. “He’s a liberal career politician pretending to be someone he’s not.”
As he has during campaign events over the past year, Sand asked attendees to sing the first verse of “America the Beautiful.” And when he introduced himself, he talked about his upbringing hunting, fishing and going to church.
Even if Sand is elected governor in November, he will likely have to work with Republican majorities in the state House and Senate, which recently passed bills to restrict the executive’s power that outgoing Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law.
Sand said it's good to have balance rather than a political system centered around amassing power and punishing political enemies.
“We have found ourselves in this position because we have too many people who want us to only think about red or blue,” Sand said Sunday. “Red and blue are colors.”
Neither Sand nor Lahn use their party's traditional blue or red in campaign materials, opting instead for green. They both say they aren’t beholden to their party establishments and that Iowans want a new direction, though Lahn’s Republican Party has held a statehouse trifecta for nearly a decade.
Little known before his bid for governor, Lahn made a splash as a business owner criticizing farm consolidation and tax breaks for corporate giants, a regenerative farmer who subscribes to Robert F. Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement and a former political operative who galvanized Iowa’s conservative grassroots.
Sand’s campaign has given about $750,000 to the Iowa Democratic Party already this cycle, funding that Republicans call hypocritical for a candidate who claims he is not a party man. The Sand campaign says that sum reflects his investment in a state party-run coordinated campaign that will help him get elected as governor, even as it also supports candidates up and down the ballot.
“Rob Sand loves to talk about rising above the ‘two-party system’ — right up until it’s time to campaign, cash checks, and share the stage with Democrat Party insiders," Iowa GOP spokeswoman Jade Cichy said in a statement Sunday.
Beshear, chair of the Democratic Governors Association and a potential presidential candidate in 2028, told a cheering crowd Sunday that he's “all in” for electing Sand.
As Democrats continue to debate what went wrong in 2024 and the direction of the party, Beshear has offered up his own example as the leader of a red state for lessons on how the party can go forward.
“I am living, breathing proof that Democrats can win anywhere, and we should be fighting everywhere,” Beshear told the crowd Sunday.
In addition to rallying with Sand, Beshear also attended a “Beers with Beshear” fundraiser for congressional candidate Sarah Trone Garriott, who wants to unseat Republican Rep. Zach Nunn in the competitive House district that includes Des Moines. Beshear told The Associated Press that he would see Turek, too.
The Democratic Governors Association, which Beshear chairs, gave the Iowa Democratic Party about $140,000 so far this cycle, according to filing reports.
Iowa Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand speaks during a campaign rally, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Iowa Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand poses for a photo with supporters during a campaign rally, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear poses for a photos during a campaign rally for Iowa Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Iowa Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand speaks during a campaign rally, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Iowa Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand, left, greets Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear during a campaign rally, Sunday, June 7, 2026, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Iowa democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand speaks to media after voting on primary Election Day, Tuesday, June 2, 2026, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Bryon Houlgrave)
