5-year Marliniversary: Alfaro's 9th-inning blast lifts Fish past Braves

[Mike Ferguson]

Jorge Alfaro was the hero for Miami in Atlanta five years ago.

Catcher Jorge Alfaro's three-year tenure with the Miami Marlins was a mixed bag. In 2019, however, the Colombian catcher enjoyed a career year.

On this day five years ago, Alfaro had one of his finest moments. His two-run ninth-inning blast, Alfaro's second home run of the night, lifted the Marlins to a thrilling 4-2 win over the Atlanta Braves.

The April 6, 2019 contest as SunTrust Park had been tied since the fifth inning as Miami came to bat against Atlanta's A.J. Minter in the top of the ninth. The inning started with a brilliant at-bat from Starlin Castro, who singled the 11th pitch from Minter through the left side for a single.

Alfaro had homered in the fifth to get the scoring started for the Marlins. Facing Minter, Alfaro worked the count to 2-2 before getting an outside fastball up and blasting it over the right-field wall for his second opposite-field home run of the evening to put Miami ahead for good.

With Miami leading 4-2, the Braves loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth. Adam Conley was able to get Charlie Culberson to pop out to end the contest.

Entering the fifth inning, the Marlins were on the short end of a 2-0 score but drew even in the frame with solo home runs from Alfaro and Peter O'Brien. Alfaro finished with three of the eight hits for Miami. Freddie Freeman went 2-for-3 with an RBI for the Braves. Sergio Romo worked a 1-2-3 eighth to pick up his first win as a member of the Marlins.

For the 2019 season, Alfaro hit .262 with 18 homers and 57 RBIs, both career-highs. His first career multi-homer game included a game-winner on this day five years ago. 

View full article

[Ryan Schlesinger]

Even that 2019 team strung together 3 wins in their first 9 games