MIAMI — Griffin Conine lined a two-strike walk-off single past second baseman Bryson Stott’s glove to cap a three-run ninth inning, lifting the Marlins to an 8-7 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies at loanDepot park and snapping a 12-game losing streak.
The win kept Miami (53-54) from becoming the first Major League team to lose at least 13 in a row since the 2024 White Sox, who dropped 21 straight en route to a Modern Era-record 121 losses. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Conine became the fifth player since 2000 to record a walk-off hit for a team for whom his father also recorded a walk-off hit.
“I think beating a good team like that, coming from behind in the ninth, like that’s a playoff-type game right there,” Conine said. He also homered in the second inning. “After the stretch we’ve been on, it felt like a September-type game, like with the playoffs looming, which, obviously, that wasn’t what it was, but I think just for what we needed right now, that was big.”
The Marlins entered the game needing to get past National League Cy Young hopeful Zack Wheeler, who had been undefeated in his last 10 starts against Miami dating back to 2022 with a 5-0 record and 2.87 ERA. Heriberto Hernández took Wheeler deep in the first inning for his team-leading 15th homer, then delivered a game-tying single up the middle off All-Star closer Jhoan Duran in the ninth after Jakob Marsee and Otto Lopez singled and Kyle Stowers was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs.
“It felt good,” Hernández said in Spanish. “We all had pressure, we were all sad, we all had a lot of feelings. We were all asking ourselves, ‘What was going on? What are we not doing?’ And thank God today we could fight from the first inning to the last and get out of that stretch.”
The skid’s toll was stark: Miami averaged just 2.5 runs per game — 30 total over 12 games — and all but one of those contests were decided by three runs or fewer. The Marlins entered the streak on July 10 tied with Philadelphia (57-50) for the second and third NL Wild Card spots and now sit two games behind the third Wild Card.
Manager Clayton McCullough said the comeback validated what he had preached all weekend. “That’s what really good teams do,” McCullough said. “You can’t just lean on a couple of individuals. Certainly, we have guys that are very capable of taking over a series, taking over a stretch of games, but ultimately, you’re going to need contributions from everywhere on the roster and on both sides of the ball. When we’ve seen us at our best, that’s what we do. So again, it showed up tonight.”
Pitcher Phillips admitted he broke his usual routine, returning to the dugout for the seventh inning and turning his cap inside out like he did as a kid for a rally. “It felt wrong to be sitting inside in my recliner just chilling,” Phillips said. “Felt like I had to go out there and try to support the boys, try to pick them up however I can. And gosh, man, that was awesome. I know it’s one win, right? But that was a big one for us.”
Xavier Edwards’ bunt hit reloaded the bases before Liam Hicks grounded into a forceout at home, setting the stage for Conine’s knuckle-curve liner. The Marlins continue their series against Philadelphia at loanDepot park with a chance to gain further ground in the Wild Card race.