5-year Marliniversary: Marlins rally from five down to stun Phillies, 9-8

For the 2017 Miami Marlins, it was an up-and-down season. After falling 13 games below .500 at one point in the season, the squad found a way to even its record and hold a winning record for a short period of time.

On this day five years ago, Miami moved back to .500 with a stellar comeback. The Marlins rallied from five runs down to top the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-8.

The Marlins trailed 8-3 as the contest at Citizens Bank Park shifted to the fifth inning on Aug. 24, 2017. The Phillies, however, would not score again.

A two-run home run from A.J. Ellis in the fifth cut the deficit to three. In the sixth, Philadelphia was forced into its bullpen and Miami took advantage.

For reliever Jesen Therrien, things actually started well. He induced groundouts from Miguel Rojas and Giancarlo Stanton to start the frame. That was followed by a solo home run from Christian Yelich. After a walk to Marcell Ozuna, Miami catcher J.T. Realmuto tied the game with a two-run inside-the-park home run.

The shot narrowly missing leaving on the fly but hit the wall high above Philadelphia outfielder Nick Williams’ glove and rolled into right field. Realmuto rounded the bases and scored with ease to knot the contest, 8-8.

After a rough outing by starting pitcher Vance Worley, Junichi Tazawa, Drew Steckenrider, Jarlin García, Kyle Barraclough and Brad Ziegler each threw an inning of scoreless relief for the Marlins. Miami went ahead for good in the eighth as Realmuto followed back-to-back singles from Yelich and Ozuna with a sacrifice fly.

It was Ozuna, who actually got the scoring started, with an RBI double in the first. Philadelphia drew even on a Rhys Hoskins homer to lead off the bottom of the second. Miami moved back in front in the third on a solo home run from Stanton and an RBI single from Dietrich.

In the bottom of the inning, the Phillies drew even on a two-run single from Hoskins before going ahead on Tommy Joseph’s three-run homer. The Phillies pushed the 6-3 lead to 8-3 with a two-run double from Williams in the fourth.

The victory began a four-game winning streak for Miami as it ascended to 66-63 before dropping its next five games. The Marlins would never get back to .500 after falling below again in 2017. The last time they did required them to erase a five-run deficit. Miami did so on this day five years ago.