On this date 20 years ago, the All-Star third baseman came up clutch for the first-place Marlins.
Wins have been tough to come by for the Miami Marlins this season, but the franchise has had its fair share of exciting victories. Consider what the then-Florida Marlins achieved on this day 20 years ago.
The Marlins were 28-20 and in first place in the National League East as they prepared for the middle game of a three-game set against the New York Mets at Pro Player Stadium on May 29, 2004.
Florida took the lead in the first as Lenny Harris grounded into a double play to plate a run. The Mets drew even on a Ty Wigginton solo homer in the second inning and took the lead in the fourth on a Karim Garcia RBI single. Álex González’s RBI single in the bottom of that inning scored Jeff Conine and evened the contest.
Florida had won in walk-off fashion more than a week before against the Arizona Diamondbacks on a bases-loaded walk to Mike Redmond, but the only walk-off home run of the season for 2004 would come against the Mets off the bat of Mike Lowell.
An All-Star, Gold Glove winner and one of the best to ever don a Marlins uniform, Lowell was no stranger to the dramatic home run. Lowell had a few of those during the Marlins’ World Series run the year prior and one in the 12th inning the month prior to beat the Philadelphia Phillies when he became the first Marlin ever to hit three homers in a game.
With the score tied 2-2 in the bottom of the 10th, no one on and one out, Lowell found himself facing former teammate Braden Looper. He turned around the second pitch he saw and pulled it over the left-field wall for a walk-off solo home run.
Lowell finished the night 2-for-2 and reached base four times for the Marlins in the victory. Conine and González also had two hits apiece.
As for Florida as a team, it didn’t have another walk-off home run until May 10, 2007 when Josh Willingham hit a three-run walk-off blast to break a scoreless tie to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers. Lowell’s game-winner would serve as the final walk-off hit in his time with the Marlins and it came on this day two decades ago.
