Jorge Soler records 40,000th hit in Marlins history

All Jorge Soler cared about was driving in a run with two outs. Cardinals right-hander Dakota Hudson served him an 0-1 hanging slider that Soler lined to right-center field, scoring Nick Fortes and extending the Marlins lead to 3-0 on Tuesday night in St. Louis.

The fifth Marlins hit of the game and 55th for Soler this season, it also happened to be the 40,000th in the franchise’s regular season history (h/t @mphdc15/Twitter). I’ll go out on a limb and assume that neither Soler nor anybody else in the Marlins clubhouse knew/cared about that in the moment.

The 40k milestone was reached almost eight years to the day of 30k:

• 10,000th—Luis Castillo single vs. Ruben Quevedo (Cubs) on June 25, 2000
• 20,000th—Matt Treanor single vs. Scott Eyre (Cubs) on May 28, 2007
• 30,000th—Casey McGehee single vs. A.J. Burnett (Phillies) on July 1, 2014

Since 1993 (when the Marlins joined Major League Baseball), 23 franchises have compiled at least 40,000 hits. The Mets, Brewers, Athletics, Pirates and Padres remain short of that number, though they’re each on track to get there within the next calendar year. It will take longer for the Rays and Diamondbacks—they didn’t come into existence until 1998.

Unfortunately for the Marlins, they finished the night at 40,001. Avisaíl García’s single was their lone hit over the final six-plus innings as the Cardinals pulled off a comeback win.

Got any way-too-early predictions for the 50k hitter? I will go with Marlins infield prospect José Salas.