25-year Marliniversary: Pat Rapp tosses first one-hitter in club history, Marlins blank Rockies, 17-0

Seeing Miami’s professional team score 17 during the 1990s was no big deal. Of course, that was for Dan Marino, Don Shula and the Miami Dolphins.

On the baseball diamond, that was a more significant feat, but that was the threshold that the Florida Marlins reached on this day 25 years ago. The Marlins recorded a then team-record for runs scored in a 17-0 victory over the Colorado Rockies and another memorable first.

The Marlins were looking to avoid a three-game sweep as they made their way to Coors Field for an afternoon contest on Sept. 17, 1995. It didn’t take long to realize it was going to be their day.

Florida got started quickly as the Marlins pushed across four runs in the top of the first inning. Gary Sheffield’s two-run double was followed by an RBI double later in the inning by Terry Pendleton. In the third, Sheffield extended the lead to 5-0 with a solo home run.

The fifth inning is where the Marlins put the contest out of reach as they pushed across eight runs. Jeff Conine’s two-run triple was followed by Pendleton’s two-run home run. RBIs singles by Charles Johnson and Sheffield about an RBI fielder’s choice off the bat of starting pitcher Pat Rapp pushed the lead to 12-0. Pendleton would drive in his third run of the inning with a bases-loaded walk.

The Marlins however, weren’t done.

Johnson would add a solo home run in the sixth and Chuck Carr provided one of his own in the ninth. In between, in the top of the seventh, Carr followed up an RBI double by scoring on a Kurt Abbott single.

In total, Florida finished the day with 17 runs, 21 hits and four home runs. The Marlins were a remarkable 8-for-16 with runners in scoring position. Sheffield finished 5-for-5 with four RBIs and four runs scored. Pendleton also plated four runs in the victory. Johnson and Jesús Tavarez each had three hits in the victory.

For all of the Marlins’ offensive success, it was also a memorable day on the mound. Rapp went the distance for Florida, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out seven. The lone hit for Colorado was a bloop single by Dante Bichette in the fourth inning.

Rapp became the first member of the Marlins to toss a one-hitter in the victory.

It would be eight years later before the club record for runs would be broken. It came in a 20-1 win over the Atlanta Braves on July 1, 2003.

The 17-0 win at Coors Field remains the largest margin of victory in a shutout in club history. It happened on this day a quarter-century ago.