Marlins win 70th game of the season in walk-off fashion
In a three-hour, 18-minute, 11-inning marathon, 28-year-old rookie Troy Johnston was the hero, belting his first career walk-off home run to lift the Marlins over the Detroit Tigers, 6-4. The victory marked Miami’s 70th win of the season and their fourth straight, their longest streak since the first week of August. It was also the club’s ninth walk-off of the year, tying the Dodgers for the third most in the National League.
“We did better than Vegas thought we would,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough joked postgame.
Most preseason projections had Miami in the low 60s for wins, but with 13 games still remaining, the Marlins have already surpassed last year’s total by eight.
Saturday’s thriller carried extra meaning for Johnston, who played behind Marlins right-hander Janson Junk — his former high school summer ball teammate.
“It was storybook,” Johnston said. “When me and Janson were playing together as kids, there were no thoughts of pro ball at all. We barely had college offers. So this was such a cool experience, and it feels very comfortable playing behind him.”
Junk entered the game looking to rebound from his worst outing of the season, when he allowed six earned runs on eight hits against Washington on Tuesday. That start was his first since returning from a 15-day IL stint for ulnar nerve irritation in his right arm.
“The whole body of work has really been a great find for us,” McCullough said before Saturday’s game. “He’s contributed a number of high-quality starts, and we can count on Janson to fill up the strike zone and give us a chance to get to the middle portion of the game in a good spot.”
Junk delivered again, recording his sixth quality start of the year before departing with Miami trailing 3-2. With one out in the sixth, Johnston crushed his first homer of the night into the upper deck to tie the game at three. The 434-foot blast was his second career home run and the second-longest hit by a Marlin at loanDepot park this season.
“To have a two-homer day in the big leagues, and for one of them to be a walk-off, it’s definitely in my top five best days at the plate,” Johnston said.
It had been nearly a month since Johnston’s last long ball. After hitting his first career home run at Fenway Park on August 18, he went 20 games without another, a drought reflective of his inconsistent playing time since being called up in late July.
“I’ve just worked really hard to be here. I try to earn my spot every day, and that’s all I can do,” Johnston said. “The exterior things like playing time shouldn’t affect me, because I’m honestly, truly happy to be here and be a Marlin.”
Johnston’s journey has been a long one. Drafted in the 17th round out of Gonzaga in 2019, he lost the 2020 minor-league season, then grinded through 636 minor-league games over four full years. In 2023, he led minor-league baseball in RBI but was left unprotected in the Rule 5 draft — ultimately going unselected.
Now, he’s making his mark. Johnston is slashing .265/.315/.422 with three homers across 33 big-league games.
“Now that Troy’s gotten more regular run, the at-bat quality has been much improved, and it’s great to see,” McCullough said.
Johnston punctuated his walk-off with a high bat flip. “Remember, I played in the Dominican Winter League, and Junior Caminero gave me a really good example of how to bat flip and sell a home run,” he said with a grin. “Thank goodness the ball went out, because if it didn’t, it would have been interesting.”
With the win, Miami improved to 70-79 while Detroit fell to 84-65. The Marlins, against all odds, sit just six games out of a Wild Card spot with 13 left to play. They’ll look to complete the sweep on Sunday behind rookie starter Adam Mazur.
This story was originally published September 13, 2025 at 9:32 PM.