MIAMI -- Jeff Conine authored one of the most memorable defensive moments in Marlins history in Game 4 of the 2003 National League Division Series. Twenty-two years later, his son Griffin Conine added to franchise lore in Miami’s 5-4 12-inning walk-off victory over Pittsburgh on Saturday at loanDepot park.
Dane Myers produced the game-winning hit by drilling a pitch to the warning track in right field, but Miami couldn't have walked it off without Conine robbing Jack Suwinski of a potential go-ahead homer in the eighth inning.
With the game tied at 3, Suwinski lofted righty Anthony Bender’s changeup to left field, where Conine raced backward to his right before shading to his left at the warning track and perfectly timing his leap to snag the ball over the left-field wall.
“It got over my head really quick; I knew it was going to be right at the fence, if not over,” Conine said. “I thought for sure it was going to be out of my reach, and it kind of hung up for me -- got close to the fence and just pretty much jumped as high as I could, and extended as high as I could, and just like snow coned it, barely in the webbing, and somehow hung on to it and brought it back.”
Plays like that wouldn’t have been possible when loanDepot park first opened in 2012 and the outfield walls stood between 11 1/2-13 feet tall. A few years later, then-ownership wanted to make the venue less pitcher-friendly and provide opportunities for dramatic home run robberies.
The 6-foot-1 Conine, who has been measured with one of the top vertical jumps on the team by the Marlins' staff, took advantage of that alteration by using his right arm to push off the now-7-foot wall.
“Incredible,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “He races back, [and] you couldn't have timed it up any more perfectly. Where he was, stayed on the ball, reaching up over like that. That's as good of a play as you'll ever see. That was terrific.”
Making the theatrics even more impressive was the fact that, with southpaw Bailey Falter starting for Pittsburgh, the left-handed-hitting Conine watched the back-and-forth game unfold from the dugout until the seventh inning, when Conine stepped in to pinch-hit for the right-handed-hitting Javier Sanoja as righty reliever Justin Lawrence entered the game.
“It's tough, for sure,” Conine said. “I think that, and pinch-hitting and being ready for an at-bat, are some of the hardest things to do in sports. Not thinking about it as much, and just being as locked-in as you can, knowing defensively you're supposed to be where you're at, you're positioned right, your timing is good with your pre-pitch setup and all that, and then just trying to get in game mode as quick as you can -- which is hard to do.
“But it's definitely easier once you have an at-bat before you go on the field, because then you feel like you're in it. If you go straight to the field, it definitely is harder to get in that mode.”
There were a couple of nice wrinkles to Saturday’s game, which made the Marlins the first team since the Reds in 2015 to have multiple walk-off wins within their first three games of a season.
Earlier in the day, Conine and his teammates wore T-shirts commemorating Jeff’s upcoming induction into the Marlins Legends Hall of Fame with “Mr. Marlin” on hand for batting practice.
One of those teammates was Myers, who complemented his walk-off heroics with two assists, becoming the first Marlins outfielder since Brian Anderson (Aug. 17, 2019) to tally as many in a game. Jeff just so happened to record the first two-outfield assist game in Marlins history.
Both of Myers’ assists from right field came in crucial moments. Miami limited Pittsburgh to a run in the first when he retrieved Suwinski's RBI double and hit cutoff man Otto Lopez, whose throw beat the runner at home. In the 12th, Myers kept the score tied at 4 by fielding Bryan Reynolds’ single and firing a 90.8 mph laser to catcher Liam Hicks, who got the ball and dove across the plate to tag Tommy Pham.
“I think we're just taking pride in doing the little things right,” Myers said. “Usually you don't see it pay off right away, but we focused on it in camp, and it's cool to see results like that early.”