‘Chaos’: Breaking down the wild play that led to the Marlins’ walk-off win over the Cardinals
Joey Wendle was at a loss for words.
Only one word, however, was really needed.
“Chaos,” he said.
In the span of about 15 seconds, a play that began with Wendle tapping a ninth-inning groundball turned into bedlam at loanDepot park.
And it led to the Miami Marlins capping a back-and-forth game with a 10-9 walk-off win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday for their third consecutive win to start this four game series.
So... what exactly happened?
The play
Wendle, who entered the game in the eighth inning following a Jean Segura ejection, stepped up to the plate in the ninth inning with runners on first and second, one out and Miami trailing by a run. Wendle fell behind in the count 1-2 against Cardinals reliever Jordan Hicks before tapping a 101.4 mph fastball just in front of home plate.
Hicks ran to retrieve the ball and double-clutched before throwing toward first base.
Except the throw sailed over Paul Goldschmidt’s head and down the right-field line.
Garrett Hampson, pinch-running for Bryan De La Cruz, scored from second (and probably would have scored regardless of Hicks’ throw). Yuli Gurriel raced around from first and slid into home plate to seal the win.
The official scoring: An RBI single for Wendle, with Hicks’ throwing error allowing Gurriel to score from first base.
It was the Marlins’ fifth walk-off win of the season and their 24th come-from-behind win overall as they improve to 51-37 on the season.
“Truly I’ve never seen a game like this,” Gurriel said. “You learn something in baseball every day.”
Already in motion
Even before Wendle swung at Hicks’ pitch, Garrett Hampson was already looking to make a move.
Hampson, who was recalled just before the game after the team placed center fielder Jonathan Davis on the injured list with a right meniscus injury, had watched how Hicks had been timing his release through the first three pitches of Wendle’s at-bat. He felt he could time things up right to steal third.
“Took a chance,” Hampson said. “It’s a risky play, but I felt like I got a good jump.”
And then Wendle swung. Hampson was nearly at third at that point, so he just kept going. He knew Hicks’ focus would be on getting Wendle out at first base.
“It’s always good to round it,” Hampson said, “and I knew Hicks wasn’t paying any attention to me anyway. I felt like I got a good read. Being in motion helps. I think I would have been walking into home regardless. Just an exciting ending.”
Hustle from first base
Gurriel capped the excitement. He went from first to home in 11.94 seconds, including running the final 90 feet from third to home in just 3.58 seconds before sealing the win by sliding into home plate with his teammates waiting to celebrate.
“Just had to go for it,” Gurriel said.
It’s the second time this series Gurriel has come up in a big moment. In the series opener on Monday, Gurriel hit a game-tying, pinch-hit two-run double in the seventh inning and then scored the go-ahead run on a Nick Fortes single on the following at-bat.
And then on Wednesday, he followed De La Cruz’s leadoff walk with a single through the right side to become the go-ahead run once again.
“It makes me very happy when I get to help the team and get those hits,” Gurriel said. “Mostly because of the fact that I’m not on the field all the time, so it’s very difficult to connect those hits sometimes. But I’m very happy to be able to help the team.”
Perspective from the on-deck circle
As all of this was unfolding, Dane Myers was in the on-deck circle, waiting for his potential at-bat that would have been next had the game not ended.
It had already been an eventful first few days in the big leagues for Myers. He was called up on Monday to fill Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s roster spot, made his MLB debut on Tuesday when he had to replace Jonathan Davis, who injured his meniscus on a diving play in the fifth inning, and made his first start on Wednesday.
Myers has gone 4 for 7 at the plate with two RBI and two runs scored.
And then he got a front-row seat for the wild finish.
“I’m sitting there trying to lock in for my at-bat,” Myers said. “I see Joey tap it. I see Hicks grab it and double clutch. Being a former pitcher, that’s a sign of being uncomfortable. Once he let go, I saw it go over [Goldschmidt’s] head. I look at Yuli coming around [from first] and I’m like ‘Send him. Why not?’ Sure enough, he scores.”
How the Marlins got to that point
The Marlins found themselves in this position to need a wild finish after they lost three separate leads earlier in the game.
They build a 5-0 lead through the first two innings before the Cardinals tied the game with a five-run third inning. A Jacob Stallings home run — his first at loanDepot park in a year-and-a-half with the Marlins — gave Miami a 6-5 lead that was gone in the top of the fourth. And then after Miami struck for two runs in the sixth, St. Louis (35-51) got one run back in the seventh and then took its first lead of the game when Jordan Walker hit a go-ahead, two-out, two-strike, two-run home run to left field against Marlins closer A.J. Puk.
Miami needed one final rally to take back the game ... and got it.
“A crazy game,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “Just back and forth ... Not real clean baseball overall from either side, but we got the win. I’ll take the win.”
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