On Memorial Day, Marlins’ Adam Conley remembers his favorite game he ever pitched
Adam Conley is almost certainly not going to be in the Hall of Fame. He might never even be an All-Star or start another game. He does, however, have a unique place in MLB history because of a midsummer win in 2016.
The Fort Bragg Game between the Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves was the first — and, as of now, only — game in Major League history to be played on an active military base. Conley got the start and the win for the Marlins.
“Truly, that’s my favorite game I’ve ever been a part of,” Conley said Sunday, reminiscing on the historic game ahead of Memorial Day. “The stands full of active military, there’s nothing like it. That’s my favorite game I’ve ever been a part of and I’m so thankful that it was just my day. It just happened to be my day and I won, so it doesn’t get any better than that.”
For Conley, the game in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, was meaningful not just because of the historic implications. Jeremy Conley, the relief pitcher’s older brother, served in the United States Army, including a nine-month tour in Afghanistan. At one point, the reliever went four years without seeing his brother because his returns to the family’s Redmond, Washington, home usually came in the summer, when the pitcher was busy with his season.
The brother isn’t alone. Larry Conley, the reliever’s father, spent his career working in law enforcement. If it wasn’t for baseball, the left-handed pitcher knows he’d probably have followed in their footsteps in some regard, either in the military or law enforcement.
“I’m sure I would’ve been in that in some capacity,” Conley said, “so just really special to me and, as I said before, what this game is to this country and everything, I can’t think of anything better to be doing on Memorial Day.”
The chance to pitch the game almost never materialized for Conley. The rotation set up in a way for Jose Fernandez to have his choice of which game he’d start, either the game at Fort Bragg or July 4 the next day. The late starting pitcher had concerns about the mound at Fort Bragg Stadium, the newly constructed ballpark, so he opted to start the next day in New York.
On Memorial Day, Conley can’t help but remember the experience.
“In the game of baseball, there’s something special about this day,” the lefty said. “I was privileged to throw that game.”
Marlins add depth to depleted bullpen
In their second and third games of a four-game series against the Washington Nationals, the Marlins (16-34) were put in an unenviable position. Both Saturday and Sunday at Nationals Park, Miami fell behind by five runs before the starting pitcher exited the game. Instead of trying to navigate the late innings with a chance to win, the Marlins immediately turned to their most natural long-relief options. Jarlin Garcia threw three innings Friday, then fellow pitcher Wei-Yin Chen tossed another three Saturday in Miami’s 9-6 loss in Washington.
With both Garcia and Chen unavailable, the Marlins need to protect themselves if a similar situation arises Monday when they close out their series with the Nationals (22-31) at 1 p.m., so Miami is bringing pitcher Elieser Hernandez back to the Majors.
“The last couple of days we had to use Jarlin, part of our length, and then Wei-Yin yesterday. Really, we were pretty beat up,” manager Don Mattingly said. “Coming in we were actually decent, but we’ve still been using our ‘pen a lot and Elieser just kind of gives us that protection as far as if we got into a bad game today.”
To make room for the pitcher, the Marlins optioned Tyler Kinley back to Triple A New Orleans. The relief pitcher also threw two innings Sunday.
Hernandez’s promotion is his second of 2019. The right-handed pitcher didn’t make an appearance in his first MLB stint this season, but he has a 1.07 ERA with 61 strikeouts in 42 innings as a starter for the New Orleans Baby Cakes this year.