10-year Marliniversary: Marlins Park opens for regular season baseball

For the first 19 years of the franchise, the Florida Marlins had one home stadium. It underwent many name changes, but following the 2011 season, the Marlins became the Miami Marlins and transitioned to their own state-of-the-art ballpark.

That stadium opened for regular season baseball on this day 10 years ago. Then known as Marlins Park, it was the scene where the newly-renamed Miami Marlins hosted their first game, a 4-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Hopes were high as the 2012 season began on April 4, 2012. The Marlins were spenders in the offseason, bringing in the likes of Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle, Heath Bell and Carlos Zambrano in the offseason. That was added to a core that included Giancarlo Stanton, Hanley Ramirez and Josh Johnson.

It was Johnson, who got the first start for Miami in its new park. Johnson turned in a quality outing, allowing three runs in six innings of work.

The Cardinals did most of their damage early. David Freese plated the first two runs with a single in the first inning before Rafael Furcal added an RBI single of his own in the second. St. Louis pushed the lead to 4-0 with an RBI groundout from Daniel Descalso in the eighth.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Marlins scored their first run in their new ballpark. An RBI double from catcher John Buck chased home Omar Infante for the team’s lone run of the contest.

Emilio Bonifacio was the first baserunner for the home team at Marlins Park when he was hit by a pitch in the fourth inning. The first hit didn’t come until the seventh when Jose Reyes singled to right field.

Furcal and Freese each had three hits for the Cardinals while the Marlins managed just four as a team. St. Louis starting pitcher Kyle Lohse allowed just a run on two hits and three walks. Jason Motte worked a scoreless ninth to pick up the save.

This season will be the 11th for the Marlins in their park, which was renamed LoanDepot Park in 2021. It first hosted a regular season Major League Baseball game on this day a decade ago.