In just 181 career games, outfielder Bryan Petersen hit just two career home runs. One of those was a walk-off blast and gave the Florida Marlins their final victory at their original ballpark. Petersen wound up playing the role of hero as his walk-off home run gave the Marlins a 3-2 win over the Washington Nationals. It came on this day 10 years ago.
Petersen was 0-for-2 with a walk as he stepped to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the ninth at Sun Life Stadium on Sept. 27, 2011.
With the contest tied 2-2, Washington reliever Doug Slaten had retired the first two hitters he faced on just six total pitches and one was out away from getting the game to extra innings. But Slaten left a fastball out over the plate and Petersen hammered it well into the stands in right field for the walk-off solo blast.
Teammates surrounded Petersen as he touched home in what would be the final win of the season for Florida.
Prior to the blast, the Marlins had just four hits with two coming from Emilio Bonifacio. Bonifacio got the scoring started with a sacrifice fly in the third before coming around to score the tying run on a wild pitch in the sixth.
Washington got on the board with a game-tying solo home run from Mike Morse on the first pitch of the fifth inning. The Nationals took their first lead in the sixth on an RBI single from Ian Desmond.
Florida starter Javier Vázquez went the distance in the victory, allowing just the two runs on five hits while fanning nine. The Marlins lost the next day 3-1 in what would be the final game of the season.
Fittingly, the final win for the Marlins at Sun Life Stadium came in walk-off fashion and by the same score as their most significant one: Game 7 of the 1997 World Series. It happened on this day a decade ago.