The Marlins had been staring down history for two weeks straight. A 12-game losing streak had them on the doorstep of matching the first team since the 2024 White Sox to lose 13 in a row, and that White Sox team went on to set the modern-era record with 21 straight losses on their way to 121 losses for the season. Nobody in Miami wanted any part of that conversation.
For a while Monday night, it looked like the skid might finally end the easy way. Miami jumped on Cy Young contender Zack Wheeler early, and Griffin Conine got things going with a solo shot that flipped the board in the Marlins' favor.
Conine's early homer off Wheeler put Miami ahead and had the streak-snap talk starting in the 8th.
Wheeler didn't make it out of the 3rd, tagged for 5 runs in his shortest outing in 4 years, and Heriberto Hernandez tied things up with a home run of his own that sent fireworks off at loanDepot park. It was shaping up as exactly the kind of laugher Miami needed after two weeks of nothing going right.
Hernandez answered right back, tying the game with a homer that had the home crowd finally making some noise.
Then, because this team has been cursed for a month, Philadelphia clawed all the way back. J.T. Realmuto and company chipped away, a go-ahead Phillies homer flipped the score again, and Bryson Stott turned a Phillies rally into a 7-5 lead heading into the 9th. At that point this had all the markings of loss number 12 turning into loss number 13, the exact nightmare scenario Miami had been trying to outrun.
Instead, Miami loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the 9th, got a game-tying single from Hernandez and a bases-loading bunt single from Xavier Edwards, and set the stage for Conine to end it. With the infield drawn in, Conine lined a single past Stott's glove for the first walk-off hit of his career, capping a 3-run inning and an 8-7 win that finally snapped the streak.
The Marlins mobbed home plate the second the winning run crossed, ending the 12-game slide right there.
The scene afterward was equal parts euphoria and absurdity, given how few people were actually there to see it. The vibe was less "pennant race" and more baseball movie, which is exactly how it landed for anyone watching from home.
One fan summed up the scene from a near-empty loanDepot park as the Marlins celebrated at home plate.
Marlins going nuts on the field. in front of 409 fans. Announcer saying “Oh Thank God!” End of 12 game losing streak. Feels like I watching Major League
One win doesn't erase 2 weeks of misery, and Miami is still buried in the Wild Card race with plenty of ground to make up. But avoiding the ignominy of a 13-game skid, and doing it with a walk-off off a Cy Young candidate, is about as good a way to hit reset as this team was going to get.