PITTSBURGH (Interstat) — Sandy Alcantara pitched seven strong innings and the Miami Marlins used a four-run seventh inning to break open a tie game, defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-3 on Friday night at PNC Park.

Both teams entered the contest with identical 35-35 records, tied at .500. The Marlins snapped a brief losing streak and improved to 36-35, while the Pirates dropped to 35-36. The game drew 19,587 fans and lasted 2 hours, 38 minutes.

Miami struck first, but neither team scored in the opening two frames. Pirates starter Braxton Ashcraft worked around a two-out single by Kyle Stowers in the first and a walk in the second, stranding runners both times. Alcantara, meanwhile, retired the first six Pirates he faced, striking out two.

The Pirates broke through in the third. Endy Rodríguez led off with a double to right field, his third two-bagger of the season. After Jake Mangum grounded out to second base, moving Rodríguez to third, Jared Triolo lined a single to left field that scored Rodríguez and gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead. Alcantara then induced a groundout and a strikeout to escape further damage.

Miami answered in the fifth. Javier Sanoja led off with a walk, and Liam Hicks followed with a double to right, putting runners at second and third. Otto Lopez grounded out to shortstop, scoring Sanoja and moving Hicks to third. Stowers then singled to right, plating Hicks to put Miami ahead 2-1. The rally stalled when Xavier Edwards grounded into a double play, but the Marlins had their first lead.

The Pirates answered immediately in the bottom of the fifth. Rodríguez launched a line-drive home run to right-center field, his second of the season, tying the game at 2-2. Mangum walked but was left stranded as Alcantara retired the next three batters.

The game remained tied until the seventh inning, when Miami erupted against Pirates reliever Wilber Dotel. Hicks led off with a walk. Lopez dropped a bunt single to the pitcher, putting runners at first and second. Stowers then walked to load the bases with no outs. Edwards lifted a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Hicks to give Miami a 3-2 lead. Heriberto Hernández followed with a line-drive single to left that deflected off third baseman Nick Gonzales, scoring Lopez and moving Stowers to second. Owen Caissie then cleared the bases with a double to center field, driving in Stowers and Hernández to make it 6-2. Dotel was charged with four earned runs in just 1⅔ innings, taking the loss.

Alcantara worked a 1-2-3 seventh inning, striking out Tyler Callihan. Miami added two more runs in the eighth off Antwone Kelly. Sanoja led off with a double to left, and Hicks crushed his 13th home run of the season to right field, extending the lead to 8-2.

The Pirates got one run back in the bottom of the eighth when Brandon Lowe hit his 17th home run of the year, a solo shot to center field off Miami reliever Anthony Bender. But Bender retired the next two batters, and the Marlins bullpen closed out the game without further damage.

Alcantara earned his sixth win against four losses, allowing two runs on five hits over seven innings with four strikeouts and one walk. Ashcraft pitched five innings, giving up two runs on five hits while striking out four, but did not factor in the decision. Dotel fell to 1-2 after allowing four runs on four hits in 1⅔ innings. Kelly surrendered two runs on two hits in 2⅓ innings.

Each team collected a home run. For Miami, Hicks was 2-for-3 with a double, a home run, three runs batted in and three runs scored. Sanoja went 2-for-4 with two doubles and two runs. Caissie doubled and drove in two. For Pittsburgh, Rodríguez went 2-for-4 with a double, a home run, a run batted in and a run scored. Lowe homered and drove in a run. Triolo had one hit and an RBI.

Miami outhit Pittsburgh 11-6. The Marlins grounded into two double plays but also capitalized on four walks and a Pirates error in the second inning that did not lead to a run. The Pirates left five runners on base.

The victory continued a strong recent stretch for Miami, which had won four of its previous five games, including a three-game sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Marlins have now won six of their last eight contests dating back to June 6. Pittsburgh, meanwhile, had split a two-game series with the Los Angeles Dodgers earlier in the week and had lost four of its last six overall.

Interstat’s game simulator projected a final score of Miami Marlins 6, Pittsburgh Pirates 5. Interstat’s ELO system gave the Pirates a 53.30 percent probability to win. Pittsburgh entered as the pregame favorite with a spread of minus-1½. The total of 11 runs went under the over/under line of 8.