20-year Marliniversary: Marlins beat Expos in final game in Montreal

[Mike Ferguson]

The Florida Marlins won the final game at Olympic Stadium 20 years ago today. 

Throughout their 32-year history, the Florida/Miami Marlins have had plenty of memorable moments against a number of teams. On this day 20 years ago, the Marlins did something that no team has done since: win a Major League Baseball game in Montreal.

After easily taking the first two games, the Marlins went for the three-game sweep of the host Montreal Expos on Sept. 29, 2004 in what would be the final game played at Olympic Stadium. The Marlins closed the building with a 9-1 rout.

Fittingly, the starting pitcher that night for the Marlins was Carl Pavano, who was acquired from Montreal in 2002. Pavano would work seven innings, yielding just a run on seven hits.

Offensively, the Marlins put up four-spots in both the second and fifth innings. The lone home run of the game was a solo shot off the bat of Miguel Cabrera against Montreal starter Sun-Woo Kim in the third inning.

In the second inning, the Marlins scored their first two runs on a pair of ground balls before Juan Pierre’s two-run double made it 4-0. In the fifth inning, Jeff Conine, Luis Castillo and Álex González all recorded RBI hits.

The final game in Montreal saw the Marlins pound out 15 hits with three each coming from Mike Lowell and Conine. Thanks to a pair of errors, three of Florida’s nine runs were unearned.

The final run in Montreal for the home team came in the fourth inning as Juan Rivera singled home Tony Batista before being thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a double. Rivera finished with three of the seven hits for Montreal.

The last player to throw a pitch at Olympic Stadium was Florida reliever Rudy Seanez, who got Terrmel Sledge to pop out to end the game. Seanez and David Weathers both worked perfect innings of relief for the Marlins.

The Expos would finish 67-95 in their final season before becoming the Washington Nationals. The final game home game took place on this day 15 years ago.

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