Marlins building camaraderie 1 domino at a time

This story was excerpted from Christina De Nicola's Marlins Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

DENVER -- Jesús Sánchez knocked the go-ahead ninth-inning homer in the Marlins’ 9-8 comeback victory over the Rockies on Tuesday night, but that might not have been his biggest win of the day.

Hours earlier in between work to prepare for the game, Sánchez earned bragging rights as the Marlins’ top dominoes player among a group that included Cristian Pache, Ali Sánchez, Sandy Alcantara, Jesús Luzardo, Edward Cabrera, Otto Lopez and Valente Bellozo.

So what makes him so good?

Lopez, Luzardo and Bellozo say being able to keep track of tiles -- almost like counting cards. Luzardo joked that Sánchez has probably been playing since he was a baby.

“Actually being put on your toes and kind of being smart with counting every domino, and knowing what's out there,” Luzardo said. “Sánchy could probably tell you what's out there without seeing it. It's crazy to watch him work. It's almost like he's going to work when we're playing dominoes. He makes it look easy.”

The Marlins play by the Dominican Republic rules, starting with the double six tile. If the same people are competing, whoever won the last round starts things off. This week, they have been competing as individuals, but in New York during the last road trip, they divided into teams.

The game ends when someone runs out of tiles to win. The loser is determined by the person with the highest point total as determined by the numbers on his remaining tiles, and he gets kicked out of his seat for someone else to take his place.

During pregame, the loser has to drink a half bottle of water. Postgame, it’s 10 pushups. Staying hydrated in the Mile High air is a plus except ...

“When you have like, three, four bottles of water in a row, you're like, ‘Ah,’” Bellozo said. “It's tough.”

Dominoes is serious business, so much so Alcantara went directly to the table following his 35-pitch bullpen while still clad in his blue alternate jersey. He uses it as a way to unwind, drink water and then work out.

“I feel like I'm always the one there, me and Sandy, just being on the IL,” Luzardo said. “Lately, we've had a lot of time on the domino table. We have a good group of guys, and a lot of guys like to play, so we have a good time with it.

“I think when we're at home, everyone kind of has their own different thing they like to do at home. And then I think here being in a new clubhouse, we had dominoes and not much else. Guys seem to be more attracted to it.”

The game of dominoes also is ingrained in Latin American culture. Family get-togethers and hangouts can last all night playing. Luzardo sees its presence in the clubhouse as a way to build camaraderie.

“For us, it's compete and just have like that emotion, play music, play dominoes,” Lopez said. “They go together.”