MIAMI — The smiles from the first half of the season were back in the Marlins’ clubhouse Wednesday morning.
After snapping a franchise-record 12-game losing streak two days earlier, Miami was ready to leave that behind. Griffin Conine had already rewatched his walk-off single from Monday night six times over the past few days.
And on Wednesday, he gave himself another highlight to revisit in front of Marlins legend and father, Jeff.
Conine delivered a go-ahead, pinch-hit two-run homer in the eighth inning, lifting the Marlins to an 8-6 comeback victory over the Phillies at loanDepot park and completing Miami’s first sweep of Philadelphia since 2019.
“It’s vintage Marlins,” Conine said. “More of what we’re all about — fighting up and down the lineup, and guys starting to swing it more just individually, coming out of slumps.
“That’s the way baseball goes: There’s ups and downs as hitters and pitchers. It’s good to see the offense coming together.”
Miami erased a six-run deficit with contributions throughout the lineup before Conine delivered the decisive swing. The sweep was also their first home sweep over the Phillies since May 29-31, 2017.
Pinch-hitting for Brian Navarreto in the eighth, Conine took the first pitch he saw from Jonathan Bowlan, a 96.1 mph four-seam fastball up and away. After that, he anticipated the next pitch wouldn’t be another fastball.
“I know [Bowlan] throws a lot of heaters,” Conine said. “The way I’ve been pitched lately, I am not seeing a lot of those. … I was probably leaning a little more on either changeup or slider error, so something I wanted to start up.”
Bowlan’s next pitch was an 88.9 mph changeup over the middle of the plate, and Conine sent it a Statcast-projected 424 feet to center field for a go-ahead, two-run homer after Kyle Stowers worked a leadoff walk in the eighth.
“Definitely a pretty good stretch for me personally and for the team, I think we needed this series,” said Conine, who is slashing .300/.349/.700 with 12 hits and five home runs over the last 15 games. “Winning the series yesterday was big, but a sweep definitely feels like an exclamation point in a division series.”
By the bottom of the fifth, the Marlins had managed just one hit — an Otto Lopez single in the third — and trailed 6-0, with Jesús Luzardo coming into the game 4-0 with a 2.05 ERA in his last four starts against his former club. Esteury Ruiz doubled to lead off the inning before later scoring on a Lopez groundout.
With Navarreto on second after being hit by a pitch and a sac bunt, Heriberto Hernández turned on a changeup and launched a Statcast-projected 416-foot, two-run shot to left-center field (his 16th of the season) to cut the deficit in half.
The Marlins continued to chip away in the seventh. They loaded the bases for Xavier Edwards, who lined a two-run single to left field to score Jakob Marsee, who drew a walk, and Lopez to tie the game at 6.
“I could just say the margins are super small here to win at this level,” Edwards said. “It takes some gutty wins. It takes some games where you come back. It takes some games where you know hold the lead from the beginning … just shows our ability to be able to win different ways.”
Entering the series, only two teams since 1990 had swept a series after entering it on a single-season losing streak of at least 12 games: The Cubs against the Padres from May 28-30, 2012, and the Brewers against the Mariners from May 27-29, 1994. The Marlins became the third.
“To just chip ourselves back into the game … it just speaks to how this group was able to handle and ride out a really tough stretch,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “Turn things around and never stop.”
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Wednesday also marked the seventh time in franchise history that the Marlins erased a deficit of at least six runs to defeat a National League East opponent. The previous occurrence also came against the Phillies on Aug. 23, 2019, when Miami rallied from a seven-run deficit.
“This is one of the more impressive [wins this season],” McCullough said. “It’s great we had these three days but tomorrow’s game is going to be our most important one.”
