20-year Marliniversary: Lowell's 9th-inning blast lifts Marlins past Giants, 4-3

[Mike Ferguson]

Mike Lowell was the hero on this day 20 years ago. 

A four-time All-Star and a postseason hero for both the Florida Marlins and Boston Red Sox, third baseman Mike Lowell hit 27 home runs in 2004. One of the timeliest blasts from that All-Star season came on this day 20 years ago.

Lowell's solo shot in the ninth inning put the Florida Marlins ahead for good in San Francisco. The shot off Félix Rodríguez lifted the Marlins to a 4-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants.

In the first game of a four-game series, the Giants pushed across two runs in the bottom of the eighth at SBC Park to draw even on April 29, 2004. With the score tied 3-3, Rodríguez began his afternoon by getting Miguel Cabrera to fly out. Behind in the count 2-1 to Lowell, Rodriguez left a 96-mph fastball over the middle of the plate and the Florida third base lifted a no-doubter into the left-field stands.

Florida relievers Justin Wayne and Frank Gracesqui combined to working a scoreless ninth, stranding the tying run at third. Lowell and Juan Pierre each finished with two of the six hits for the Marlins. Hee-Seop Choi and Ramón Castro also homered for Florida in the victory.

Barry Bonds finished 2-for-2 with a solo home run in the loss, surpassing Hank Aaron for the most homers hit after the age of 35. A.J. Pierzynski and J.T. Snow each had two hits for San Francisco. Wayne earned the win for Florida while Gracesqui recorded his only career save.

San Francisco would bounce back to take the final three games of the series. The lone Marlins win was decided on a ninth-inning blast from Lowell on this day two decades ago. 

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