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For the second “Marliniversary” in a row, we’ll be looking back on a dramatic home run to lift the Florida/Miami Marlins to a victory in their final at-bat. On this day five years ago, it came in extra innings and from an unlikely source.
During his five years with the Miami Marlins, shortstop Adeiny Hechavarría homered just 13 times. There were however, some big ones along the way. On June 7, 2015, it came against the Colorado Rockies in the 10th inning at Coors Field to lift the Marlins to a 3-2 victory in the rubber game of a three-game set.
Prior to Hechavarría’s heroics, both Miami runs had come in the first inning. Marcell Ozuna laced a two-run single off starter Kyle Kendrick to get the scoring started.
Kendrick would allow just the two runs on five hits and a walk in seven innings for Colorado. Miami starter José Ureña yielded a run on three hits and two walks in six innings.
Colorado got on the board in the fourth with a sacrifice fly from Nolan Arenado. The Rockies drew even in the bottom of the seventh on Carlos González’s solo home run off Carter Capps.
Hechavarría stepped to the plate with two outs and the bases empty in the top of the 10th inning to face Boone Logan. Logan had retired Christian Yelich and J.T. Realmuto, but had fallen behind both batters, hinting that we was not especially sharp.
Against Hech, Logan fell behind in the count 2-1 before trying to come inside with the breaking ball. Logan’s pitch hung and got too much of the plate. Hechavarría knew exactly what to do with it as he lifted the pitch out of the deepest part of the ballpark to center field. That would be all that Miami would need.
Marlins’ closer AJ Ramos retired the Rockies in order in the bottom of the 10th to earn the save. Sam Dyson worked a scoreless ninth to earn the win. Dee Gordon was 3-for-4 with a run scored, while star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki had two of the five hits for Colorado in the loss.
In 2015, the Marlins went 5-2 in seven games against the Rockies. Among those seven contests, there was only a single one-run game. That had plenty of drama and occurred on this day five years ago.