ST. PETERSBURG — The Miami Marlins exploded for a franchise-record eight-run 10th inning to snap the Tampa Bay Rays’ 11-game home winning streak at Tropicana Field, a historic eruption that rescued a road trip in which Miami had scored just 12 total runs through its first four games.
Javier Sanoja delivered a three-run double in the 10th — the club’s biggest inning since September 2023 — after lining an RBI single to left-center in the ninth to give Miami its first lead. Sanoja had entered that ninth-inning at-bat mired in a 3-for-36 slump with just one extra-base hit and one RBI since April 24.
“Like you mentioned, May has not been my best month,” Sanoja said via interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. “I’ve been hitting the ball like right in the face and it goes directly to players and it’s out, and that’s baseball. I do appreciate the manager and my teammates, who are lifting my spirit every day. That’s what we do in trying to compete out there and do our best.”
Liam Hicks added a two-run single through the right side with the bases loaded in the 10th, retaking sole possession of the Major League RBI lead at 40. Heriberto Hernández had kept Miami alive earlier with a game-tying pinch-hit solo home run in the seventh — his first long ball of the season and the club’s first pinch-hit homer in 2026.
“The goal is very simple: Just got to win, try to win as many games as you can every day, and we’re going to continue to prepare ourselves to be ready every time,” Hernández said via Dorante. “Even though sometimes you won’t have the same results, we’ll be ready.”
Sandy Alcantara kept the Marlins in the game with one unearned run allowed over six innings for his seventh quality start of the season. He navigated consecutive errors and an infield hit in the fifth to strand the bases loaded. “We trust Mack,” Alcantara said of his catcher, who engineered an unconventional inning-ending double play in the sixth by faking a throw to second and firing to third to catch a runner straying off the bag. “He’s a great catcher behind the plate. I don’t know how he does that, but I think I threw my best four-seam down in the middle, and he executed the play at third base.”
The game reached extras after longtime Rays reliever Pete Fairbanks surrendered a game-tying two-out RBI single to former Marlin Nick Fortes. The outing was Fairbanks’ first appearance since being reinstated from the injured list with nerve irritation on Wednesday and his 11th overall; he has been scored upon in five of those outings. Manager Clayton McCullough said he remains confident in the reliever.
“It’s been hard to put together, because it’s just been so kind of uneven with just the time, and being away,” McCullough said. “And even this one, it had been a stretch since he had been out in a game. But I thought his stuff was great. The velocity was terrific. … I think Pete’s going to be fine, and now just get him some regular work, and he can get into a good rhythm.”
Jakob Marsee collected his second consecutive three-hit performance, bumping his average from .176 to .204. McCullough framed the breakout as a sign of what the lineup needs going forward. “To win, and to go on a run, we’re going to need contributions up and down,” McCullough said. “We certainly have the people capable of that, and a ton of belief in them.”
The Marlins and Rays close their series at Tropicana Field on Sunday.