MIAMI — While his team looked to complete their first sweep since June and he looked to build off an outing during which an early attack by the Yankees left him with a third consecutive losing decision, Cardinals starter Andre Pallante found himself working with heavy traffic on Wednesday against the Marlins.

The Cardinals’ righty dealt with bases loaded, no-out scenarios in two separate innings and had two other innings build up when back-to-back singles forced him to work with multiple runners on base. Pallante’s busy outing led him to face at least five batters in four different innings as the Marlins pushed across five runs on eight hits and drew three walks against him during a 6-2 Cardinals loss at loanDepot Park.

Pallante worked 5 1/3 innings, marking his longest outing since he completed seven scoreless innings on July 28 against the Marlins at Busch Stadium, but he was left with a fourth consecutive losing decision and a 5.17 ERA. With Wednesday's start, Pallante has now allowed four or more runs in each of his previous four starts.

The Cardinals’ persistent offense that tallied double-digit hits and drove up Marlins starters’ pitch counts on Monday and Tuesday was held to two runs and five hits through seven innings by right-hander Sandy Alcantara. Alcantara, the National League Cy Young award winner in 2022 and a former Cardinals prospect, notched a season-high nine strikeouts as he got whiffs on all five of his pitches and had a 35% whiff rate on the night, per Statcast.

Alcantara allowed one run to score in the fifth inning on a ground-rule double from Lars Nootbaar that scored Yohel Pozo but prevented Jordan Walker from scoring from first base. The Cardinals tagged the righty for another run before he left when Willson Contreras homered in the sixth inning.

Left-hander Anthony Veneziano, whom the Cardinals claimed off waivers from the Marlins in early August, made his Cardinals debut with a scoreless inning of relief.

Pallante leaves them loaded

Unable to keep the Marlins scoreless when the bases were loaded in the second inning or the third when they had two runners reach base with one out, Pallante escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the fourth. His ability to get swings and misses helped him avoid damage in the frame.

After the first three batters he faced reached base and pitching coach Dusty Blake visited him on the mound, Pallante worked Xavier Edwards into a 1-2 count after his first pitch missed the strike zone. Having approached Edwards with three consecutive fastballs to begin the at-bat, a fourth fastball by Pallante placed on the inner half of the plate and at the knees got the Marlins’ leadoff hitter to chase a third strike for an out.

Pallante went to his fastball to get a first pitch strike on Jakob Marsee and offered Marsee a slider that was fouled along the third base line. After a sinker missed for a ball, Pallante got Marsee to whiff on a curveball that broke on the outer half of the plate.

A groundout on a first-pitch slider by Augustin Ramirez, whom Pallante hit with a pitch in their first two encounters, got him through a scoreless inning.

Alcantara punctuates outing

To get through seven innings in a start for the third time this season, Alcantara continued to flash swing-and-miss stuff and silenced the top of the Cardinals’ lineup in the process.

With a sixth strikeout collected on a 98.4-mph sinker he blew by Walker, Alcantara collected strikeout No. 7 on a seven-pitch battle against Nootbaar. Nootbaar took a sinker for strike one and fouled off the next five pitches the righty offered him before taking a change-up that missed on the outer edge of the plate. A second consecutive change-up thrown at the knees got Nootbaar to strike out.

Against Ivan Herrera, Alcantara evened a 1-2 count with a 99.3-mph fastball called for a strike on the low outside edge of the strike zone. Having flashed the sinker once before during the at-bat, Alcantara challenged Herrera with a second sinker that got the Cardinals’ designated hitter to whiff for strike three.

Slowing the Marlins’ attack

When the Marlins threatened to score in the fifth inning with back-to-back singles to begin the frame, an accurate throw by center fielder Nootbaar and a quick move by Pallante quieted the chance.

On a single to center field by Troy Johnston, Nootbaar made an accurate throw to third base and Nolan Gorman applied a clean tag on Heriberto Hernandez as he attempted to advance an extra base on the play.

In the at-bat that followed, a pick-off throw by Pallante to first baseman Contreras caught Johnston off the base. Johnston, who had tried to dive back to the bag but stopped as the throw beat him, attempted to break for second base but fell on his attempt to do so, allowing Contreras to easily apply a tag for the inning-ending out.

Acosta checks off career firsts

Hitless through his first eight at-bats three games into his MLB career, Marlins rookie Maximo Acosta checked off a trio of milestones in the sixth inning.

Acosta, who was called up by the Marlins on Monday, belted a 418-foot home run to center field off Pallante to give him his first hit, home run and RBI of his big league career. The home run signaled the end of Pallante's night.

The rookie threw his arms up in celebration of the moment as he made his way to second base during his home run trot.

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