Stowers' 'surreal' slam propels Marlins to riveting walk-off victory
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MIAMI -- Turns out the Marlins’ new City Connect 2.0 Retrowave uniforms have a little magic in them.
Kyle Stowers crushed a walk-off grand slam in a five-run ninth, as the Marlins shocked the Athletics, 9-6, on Saturday at loanDepot park. In doing so, Miami snapped its season-long six-game skid while debuting its new look paying homage to the “Magic City.”
“We're not going to take these things off,” manager Clayton McCullough joked before his postgame media session.
It marked the Marlins’ fourth walk-off victory of the season, good for second most in the Majors, and Stowers’ second game-winning hit of 2025 after being the walk-off hero on Opening Day on March 27. His swing became the sixth walk-off grand slam in franchise history, and the first since Giancarlo Stanton (April 18, 2014).
“Surreal. Blackout,” Stowers said of the thrill. “Family was here today: wife and her parents, and some other friends. Always cool to do it in front of people that love and care about me, regardless of whether I'm doing that or not. … I don't like to say the words, like ‘We needed it,’ but it was a good time for a win. Cool to be in the middle of it. That's why you play the game is for moments like that. Just to have the opportunity is special. Very grateful to God for that.”
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Trailing 6-4 in the ninth, the Marlins were tasked with facing All-Star closer Mason Miller and his triple-digit fastball. He had been better than ever, entering the game 10-for-10 in save opportunities this season.
Matt Mervis, who broke his bat over his knee in frustration after one of his three strikeouts earlier in the game, led off with a hit-by-pitch. But when Connor Norby and Dane Myers followed with strikeouts, Miami’s win probability dipped to a game-low 4.4 percent.
Leave it to a pair of rookies -- both filling in for banged-up regulars -- at the bottom of the order to extend the rally and give Miami’s top bats a chance.
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Starting in place of second baseman Otto Lopez (Grade 2 ankle sprain), Javier Sanoja doubled for the second time in the game. Ronny Simon, who started for late scratch Jesús Sánchez (back), walked.
Mervis scored and Sanoja advanced to third on the wild pitch that ended Simon’s plate appearance. Leadoff batter Xavier Edwards then walked to load the bases.
“Ready to hit 102, 103 [mph], whatever it is, and battle anything over the plate,” Edwards said. “He was kind of losing it a bit, control. I don't know if he usually has good control or not, but he didn't really have a bunch of it today. So just swing at a pitch we're supposed to, try to keep it simple, just kind of pass it along. I was saying earlier, I heard them talking on TV about my walk. I was just glad that after my at-bat was over, that the game wasn't over. There's really not a worse feeling than that. So I was just glad to be able to pass it along.”
The baton went to one of the Majors’ early-season breakout stars in Stowers.
Entering Saturday, Stowers ranked eighth in batting average (.320) and 31st in slugging percentage (.500) among 166 qualified hitters. His barrel percentage (17.1%) and expected batting average (.303) placed him in the 91st percentile.
The 27-year-old Stowers had already knocked a two-run homer in the third when he stepped up to the plate in the ninth. He wasted no time, rocketing a first-pitch fastball on the outside quadrant over the left-center wall. At 101.7 mph, it was the fastest pitch that a Marlin has hit for a home run in the pitch tracking era (since 2008).
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Stowers has gone deep four times since Wednesday, which includes the first two multihomer games of his career. His average and OPS are up to .324 and .944, respectively.
McCullough described Saturday’s win as a callback to the club’s performance before its recent rough stretch. The Majors’ least-experienced team has shown character and resilience far beyond its years, which is the message behind the new “Retrowave” uniforms that blend the organization’s past, present and future.
“We won, so it's a lot of fun,” Stowers said. “Just talking about it today, just how much better the vibes are when the team wins. Obviously the moment was fun, fun for me, too. Since they brought me in, we want to bring winning baseball here, and so we want this good energy, and hopefully we can use this as some momentum and keep rattling off some wins.”