ST. LOUIS -- Jake Burger spent his childhood watching Albert Pujols launch homers into Big Mac Land, hoping one day he could do the same. Good thing he is country strong like his father, Mike, who grew up on a turkey farm in Indiana.

Burger’s chance to display his prodigious power came on Thursday afternoon, as he went deep twice in his Busch Stadium debut. Unfortunately, his homecoming was spoiled by a five-run seventh-inning rally in Miami’s 8-5 defeat to St. Louis.

With dozens of family members and friends in attendance, Burger recorded his fourth career multihomer game, and second as a Marlin. As he rounded the bases following his second tater, the surreal nature of the moment sunk in: The ball landed not too far from where he sat as a teenager for Game 6 of the 2011 World Series.

“It's crazy that I'm out here not watching the game but playing in it,” Burger said, “and being able to do that, it's really, really cool.”

The 27-year-old Burger, who attended Christian Brothers College High School and Missouri State University, took former White Sox teammate Lance Lynn deep in the fourth and fifth for his first home runs of the season. He also walked in the first and seventh, reaching base four times in a game for the third time as a Marlin.

“How do you write that script?” asked Mike, who wore a red Sugar Kings sweatshirt so he didn’t completely neglect the hometown club. “It's the Opening Day here, and everything it means to us as St. Louis folks? I would say this is hard to beat because of the whole story surrounding it. I can't come up with a better one.”

If the Marlins want to climb out of this early season hole, they’ll need the duo of Burger and Josh Bell that went back-to-back in the fifth to lead the way like it did upon arrival in Miami following last year's Trade Deadline.

Through eight games this season, Burger has 10 RBIs -- one of just four Major Leaguers in double digits. Since being acquired last August, Burger has hit .310/.361/.515 with 14 doubles, 11 homers and 38 RBIs in 61 games as a Marlin. That type of production has been missing within the organization since the initial rebuild in 2018. Burger, who won't be a free agent until after the 2028 season, is proving himself to be a cornerstone.

“He's been nothing but special for us, honestly,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “He's provided really good defense -- both [at] first and third -- and middle-of-the-order bat. You just can't find those that are controllable. He's been injured in the past. He's super motivated to stay healthy. He takes care of himself. Smart kid, really smart, understands every pitcher that's coming in, what they're going to do to him.

“I thought he's done a really nice job with the hitting guys, trying to figure out how to be the best he can be every single day. There's not a pitcher that comes in he doesn't know, and it's impressive the amount of homework he does on each guy. And the results are because of all the work that he puts in.”

But after left-hander Ryan Weathers permitted three runs over five innings, striking out six and walking three, things unraveled in the seventh with Miami holding a two-run lead. Luis Arraez committed a fielding error for what should’ve been the second out of the inning. Instead, Paul Goldschmidt reached, and five of the next six batters collected hits against right-hander Sixto Sánchez and southpaw Andrew Nardi. Marlins relievers now have a 6.58 ERA on the season.

In falling to 0-8, the Marlins became the first team to drop eight games in a row to begin a season since the 2016 Braves (68-93) and Twins (59-103) lost nine straight. Miami has been outscored 59-29 (minus-30) so far in 2024. Entering Thursday, only Colorado (minus-34) and Oakland (minus-29) -- a pair of rebuilding clubs -- had a worse run differential.

“We just talk a lot about, ‘What do we do right now?’” Arraez said. “We lose a lot of games. Everybody knows that. We are frustrated right now because we want to win, especially me, because when I play, I give my 100 percent every day. I make two errors, cause the game to lose. That's my fault there. I just try to do my best every time, play hard every day. So the good thing [is] we've got an off-day tomorrow, and then we just need to keep continuing to play hard.”