MIAMI – Xavier Edwards, now the Marlins’ longest-tenured position player despite not debuting until May 2023, didn’t shy away from speaking on behalf of the club.
When the front office elected to keep right-handers Sandy Alcantara, Edward Cabrera and Anthony Bender at Thursday’s Trade Deadline, the young roster saw it as a vote of confidence.
The Marlins returned the favor, erasing multiple deficits against the Yankees’ revamped bullpen in Friday night’s 13-12 walk-off victory at loanDepot park. It marked the team’s eighth walk-off win of the season, tied for third most in the Majors.
Miami improved to just two games below .500 (53-55) for the first time since April 26. Since June 13, when the club began the day a season-high 16 games below .500, the Marlins have gone 28-14 – tied with the Brewers for the most wins in MLB. They are seven games back of the third and final National League Wild Card spot.
“That’s why we show up every day, to win as many games as we can,” said Edwards, who believes a postseason berth is within reach. “We’re going to keep fighting until 162 is done and see where the cards stack up. Every day, we’re just trying to stack days, stack wins, win series. And if we do that, I think we’ll look at the end of year and be in a good spot.”
With Miami down by two in the ninth, Javier Sanoja singled and Jakob Marsee walked against former Giants closer Camilo Doval before Edwards singled to right. The ball went under José Caballero’s glove, tying the game and putting Edwards at third.
Next up was Agustín Ramírez, who was acquired by the Marlins from the Yankees as part of the Jazz Chisholm Jr. trade last summer. The owner of the most extra-base hits among NL rookies, Ramírez instead dribbled a ball in front of the plate. Catcher Austin Wells retrieved it, but Edwards raced home on a contact read and beat Wells home as the winning run.
“I hit the ball so hard every time, and this moment …” Ramírez laughed. “But it wins the game. This is most important.”
It was a dramatic ending to one of the whackiest games played at this 14-year-old ballpark. The Marlins handed the Yankees their first loss on the road when scoring 12 runs or more since July 24, 1940, vs. the St. Louis Browns at Sportsman’s Park. It was the first time the Yankees lost a nine-inning game when scoring 12 runs or more since Aug. 12, 1973, vs. the A’s.
Trailing 6-0 in the fifth, Sanoja lined a two-run opposite-field homer to right, and pinch-hitter Liam Hicks looped a two-run single to cut the deficit to two against lefty Carlos Rodón.
Behind 9-4 in the seventh, Miami energized the crowd of 32,299 with a six-run frame to take a 10-9 lead.
Kyle Stowers roped a grand slam against newcomer Jake Bird over the left-field wall, but not before it glanced off Jasson Domínguez’s glove. Stowers’ 24th tater of the season was also his second grand slam.
Two batters later, Sanoja ambushed former Pirates closer David Bednar’s four-seamer for the game-tying shot with two outs. The 5-foot-7 Sanoja entered the series opener with just one homer in 253 career plate appearances.
After Marsee, the Marlins’ No. 10 prospect, doubled for his first Major League hit and Edwards singled to keep the rally alive, Ramírez put the exclamation mark on the inning with an RBI single to left.
“Very exciting, a lot of emotions,” Sanoja said via interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. “I’m very thankful with God for allowing me this great opportunity. But I was not ready to just give up right there. I wanted to actually win the game. I was OK with tying the game, but I was thinking about it, just, ‘How are we going to win this game?’ And thank goodness we were able to do [it].”
Miami’s lead was short-lived. Right-hander Lake Bachar coughed up a game-tying homer to Anthony Volpe to open the eighth, and Bender, who hadn’t pitched since Sunday, allowed a pair of runs in the ninth.
But that didn’t matter to the youthful Marlins, who have shown their relentlessness time and again. Friday marked their 27th comeback win of the season.
“We’re underdogs,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “… Most nights even when we’re playing well, to be honest – how many people around baseball are giving us a chance to win games? And that’s fine. I think we’ve all season long worried less about what others have thought about what we could or couldn’t do. And within our clubhouse and our group, [we] believe that we can go out and we can play with anybody, and we can win games in a variety of ways.
“We showed that tonight. I think their fight continues to shine through, and they love playing with each other, and also that it’s not one person each night. Tonight, to try to unpack a couple people would be doing disrespect to how many people contributed. And so they just show up ready to play and have an edge to them. And I love that about our group.”
