10-year Marliniversary: Uggla, Hanley come through in clutch as Fish rally past Cardinals in extras

Following the rebuild after the Florida Marlins’ 2003 World Series title, perhaps the franchise’s two most notable young players were the middle infield combination of second baseman Dan Uggla and shortstop Hanley Ramírez.

On this day 10 years ago, that duo played a vital role in a thrilling 10-inning victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. After Uggla tied the game in the ninth, Ramírez won it in the 10^th in a 5-4 win at Sun Life Stadium on Aug. 7, 2010.

Ramírez had got the scoring started with a solo home run in the first inning. After the Cardinals pushed across two runs in the top of the fourth, Logan Morrison evened the game in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single off Jake Westbrook to score Emilio Bonifácio. The score remained even until the seventh when Donnie Murphy hit a solo shot to put the Marlins back in front.

Westbrook and Florida starter Josh Johnson each put together quality starts, but neither factored in the decision.

With closer Leo Nuñez on the mound, Florida was three outs away from evening the series. After inducing a pair of fly outs around a pair of singles from Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday, Nunez was unable to get catcher Yadier Molina. Molina tied the game with an RBI single before Aaron Miles followed with one of his own to give St. Louis a 4-3 lead.

Nuñez was unable to close it out for Florida and Ryan Franklin was given the opportunity to do just that for the Cardinals. Uggla had other plans.

On the second pitch of the bottom of the ninth, Uggla took Franklin deep over the left-field wall for the game-tying home run. Franklin settled in to retire the next three Marlins, but after a scoreless inning from Clay Hensley, Florida was back at the plate to face Franklin in the bottom of the 10^th.

Pinch hitter Chad Tracy ripped a one-out single to put the winning run on base. That brought Ramírez to the plate. On the second pitch from Franklin, Ramírez lined a double into the right-center field gap. Tracy would score easily from first base to end the contest.

Uggla and Ramírez combined for five of the Marlins’ nine hits in the victory. Molina finished with three hits for St. Louis. Pujols and Holliday each had two hits for the Cardinals in the loss.

The Marlins would notch two more walk-off wins during the 2010 season and both of those also came in 10 innings. The thriller over St. Louis however, would be the last time that Florida would rally to win after trailing in the ninth. It came on this day a decade ago.