Marlins put exclamation mark on May with walk-off win

MIAMI -- It started out with a walk. Well, technically it started with eight scoreless innings. But when it really mattered, it was a leadoff walk in the ninth inning that got the ball rolling for the Marlins on Wednesday night at loanDepot park.

Entering the ninth inning, down one run and having ground into three double plays, Miami was in need of the clutch hitting that had eluded the club of late. Rather than turn to the bench, manager Skip Schumaker put his trust in the middle of his lineup. And it paid off.

Stringing together that leadoff walk, a sac bunt, two singles and a stolen base off of San Diego’s Josh Hader, one of the premier closers in baseball, the Marlins put an emphatic exclamation mark on the month of May and walked off the Padres, 2-1, to even the series and enter June with a winning record (29-27), the latest Miami has had a record above .500 in a non-shortened season since August 2017.

“That was awesome,” said starter Braxton Garrett, who held the Padres to one run on two hits and did not allow a walk until the sixth inning while striking out seven. “There's no quit in this team. Josh Hader coming in -- one of the best closers in the game -- there's never a doubt. We believe in each other. We believe we're gonna get one across, at least one, there. This team just has no quit.”

It was some of the more unlikely heroes on Wednesday night that came through clutch. Yuli Gurriel, who hadn’t reached base all night, worked the leadoff walk against Hader. Then Joey Wendle, who struck out pinch-hitting for Jon Berti in the seventh inning, laid down a sacrifice bunt that was as perfect as it gets.

Jean Segura, who entered the night hitting .198 this season, ripped an RBI single through the left side. As Gurriel powered around third and scored, taking advantage of some defensive confusion from the Padres, Segura sidled into second.

Catcher Nick Fortes followed that with a walk-off single that sliced down the first-base line, his second career walk-off and the Marlins’ third walk-off win this season.

“Shoot, just happiness, joy,” Fortes said when asked what he felt rounding first before being mobbed by his teammates. “[I was] glad we won. Just a hard-fought game in all facets of the game. So to hit that and see it go through the hole was awesome.”

While the walk-off was special for Fortes, it perhaps meant more to Segura, whose ninth-inning knock marked his 500th career RBI and who is well aware of his own struggles of late.

“That at-bat brings my confidence back a little bit,” Segura said. “To win against Hader, it’s a good one. … I know I'm struggling, it's no secret -- the numbers show it. And I just come here, and you know, keep at it, keep playing, keep playing the right way, go hard about my business, trying to do the best I can to help this team. You know, hopefully this will turn around, and [I] continuously [get better], because I'll be honest, it feels [crappy]. It feels bad.”

Segura added, in Spanish: “This is a tough game that can put you down really quickly. It's up to the player how long they're going to let it kick their [butt]. As a player, you have to find a way out of that stinking environment. … It's very easy to smile and be a good teammate when you're doing well, but it's very difficult to be when you're not doing well.”

But Segura seems to be finding that clutch gene again, as do the Marlins as a whole. Miami began the season a record-setting 12-0 in one-run games for the most consecutive wins in games decided by one run in AL/NL history. Since then, it’s been more of a mixed bag. Wednesday, though, seemed like a turning point for both the third baseman and the ballclub.

“[He’s] working hard to fight through this thing,” Schumaker said. “Hard work equals good luck. You hear that all the time, and for him to see it through and get that big hit … he's had big hit after big hit lately. Clutch player; he's a winning player.”

Perhaps Garrett summed it up the best when describing the different energy surrounding the Marlins this season and their seemingly innate ability to prove that even when they’re down, they’re not out.

“We got a few new guys who come from winning organizations and just -- the mentality is great,” Garrett said. “We're always locked in. We're just a good team.”