MIAMI -- Kyle Stowers keeps on slugging as though he’s still competing in the All-Star Game’s swing-off.
Stowers tallied his fifth multihomer game, which included the game-winning two-run blast, in the Marlins’ 8-7 walk-off win over the Royals in 10 innings on Friday night at loanDepot park. Miami (45-51) opened the second half with its seventh walk-off victory of the season and Stowers’ MLB-leading third walk-off hit.
The 27-year-old Stowers, who recorded the fourth three-homer game in Marlins history in a five-hit performance to close out the first half on Sunday, became the first player in Major League history with five home runs in a two-game span where one of the homers was a walk-off.
“It's pretty crazy,” Stowers said. “I'm just kind of lost for words. Very grateful. Just like I say, ‘All Glory to God.’ I really don't feel like this is all my own strength. I sincerely feel that way. I'm just at a loss for words. It's getting crazier and crazier.”
In a game the Marlins led 5-0 in the third, they found themselves trailing 7-5 in the 10th after Lake Bachar allowed a two-out, two-run double to pinch-hitter Adam Frazier. In the bottom half of the frame, Agustín Ramírez knocked an RBI single before Stowers deposited an elevated four-seamer from righty Carlos Estévez to the upper deck in right.
At Tuesday’s Midsummer Classic, playing on one of the sport’s biggest stages, Stowers struck out looking on Estévez’s slider that clipped the bottom of the zone.
“The nerves are always pretty real for me to be honest, and I guess by nerves, I kind of mean, there's always that voice in my head that tries to ignite fear and fear of failure,” Stowers said. “And for me, early in the year, it was fear of, ‘Can I ever have success in the big leagues?’ … Now it's like the fear of, ‘Can I keep this up or whatever?’
“And at the end of the day, I'm going to give the same answer I've given: I'm going to be OK regardless of if I do or not. The best thing I can do is take care of my health as a person, treat people well, try to make the biggest impact I possibly can [on] as many people as I can. And that's kind of my biggest goal. Whatever happens for me in baseball is going to happen.”
When Miami jumped on righty Seth Lugo early, it was thanks to first-inning homers by Jesús Sánchez and Stowers, whose long ball over the right-center wall was his 20th tater of the season.
The reigning National League Player of the Week became the first Marlins lefty bat to reach that milestone since Justin Bour in 2017, and just the seventh in franchise history -- Bour (2017, ‘15), Christian Yelich (‘16), Logan Morrison (‘11), Mike Jacobs (‘08, ‘06), Carlos Delgado (‘05), Cliff Floyd (‘01, ‘00, 1998). Stowers later added an RBI single in the third as part of a five-RBI night.
Until his fifth-inning strikeout, Stowers also had a hit in eight consecutive at-bats and had reached base safely in 10 straight plate appearances -- both tied for club records. His five homers in a two-game span are the most in franchise history, while his 11 RBIs are tied for the most with Gary Sheffield (1995).
“That's why he's an All-Star,” said two-time All-Star Sandy Alcantara, who went six innings. “You guys see what he did before going to the All-Star Game, the game he hit three homers, and he came back from the All-Star [Game] and he did the same thing today. So hopefully he keeps doing what he does.”
It’s time Stowers begins garnering more national attention for his breakout season. Here is where Stowers ranks among NL batters:
• .298 average (tied for second)
• .371 on-base percentage (tied for 11th)
• .563 slugging percentage (third)
• .934 OPS (third, behind perennial MVP candidate Shohei Ohtani and Dodgers catcher Will Smith)
His OPS through 92 games is the highest for a Marlin since Giancarlo Stanton in 2017. Stowers also was the NL’s leadoff batter for the Midsummer Classic’s inaugural swing-off, going deep once in three at-bats.
“What Kyle continues to do is, yes, he has had an incredible first half of the season and now into the second half,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “Those that got a chance to spend time around him in Atlanta, guys he competes against as players, staff, they came away very impressed with the conversations you have with Kyle -- how intelligent he is, how in-tune he is with his plan and approach. So it's not an accident that Kyle is having this type of success.
“He's got tremendous ability, as well as a very good brain and the ability to look at each day and at-bat as its own. What he's doing from a performance standpoint, certainly any recognition that he gets and comes his way, he's deserving of that. In some ways, he just quietly keeps his head down and goes about it, and his performance will continue to speak for itself.”