The Miami Marlins beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-8, on Wednesday night, winning in the 12th inning on a walk-off single by Jesus Sanchez.
It was a critical win for Miami, who moved to 58-51 on the season. Seeking the organization's first playoff appearance since 2020, Miami is now tied for the third wild card spot in the National League. They are just 0.5 games behind the Phillies for the second wild card spot.
In the victory, multiple historic things occurred. First, from Sarah Langs of MLB.com:
the Marlins are the 2nd team in the last 50 seasons to score in the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th & 12th innings of a game, joining:
5/29/21 Padres
It makes sense that these occurrences would be recent given the advent of the "ghost runner" rule that starts extra-inning frames. That rule took effect in the 2020 season.
The Marlins trailed 5-2 in the eighth but scored in the eighth on a Sanchez walk and a Jon Berti ground out. They tied the game in the ninth on a home run by Jorge Soler.
They trailed 7-5 in the tenth before Avisail Garcia grounded out to score a run and Berti hit a sacrifice fly. They were down 8-7 in the 11th when Josh Bell tied the game with a single, setting the stage for the walk-off theatrics in the 12th.
Bell was also part of some unique team history in the win. Also per Langs:
Josh Bell’s 4 hits are tied for the most by a player in his Marlins debut, with:
4/13/18 JB Shuck
4/6/09 Emilio Bonifacio
4/5/05 Carlos Delgado
4/5/93 Jeff Connie (1st game in franchise history!)
which also means it's the most by an in-season acquisition Marlin in his debut
Bell was acquired at the trade deadline from the Cleveland Guardians.
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