15-year Marliniversary: Murphy gets second walk-off hit in five days as Marlins rally past Braves

[Mike Ferguson]

Never close to a household name, Donnie Murphy appeared in the big leagues for five different teams over nine seasons. In July 2010, however, Murphy was a sight to behold for fans of the Florida Marlins.

On this day 15 years ago, Murphy collected his second walk-off hit in five days. After belting a two-run pinch-hit walk-off home run against the Colorado Rockies four days earlier, Murphy delivered the walk-off single as the Marlins rallied past the Atlanta Braves, 7-6.

Until the bottom of the ninth, the Marlins never could seem to put the Braves away at Sun Life Stadium on July 23, 2010. A two-run home run from Dan Uggla in the first and a two-run single from Bryan Petersen in the sixth lifted Florida to a 4-1 lead. In the seventh, however, Atlanta drew even on a three-run home run from Brian McCann.

Gaby Sánchez's solo home run in the bottom of the seventh put the Marlins back in front 5-4, but in the ninth, José Veras was unable to close the door for Florida. After giving up the game-tying single to McCann, Veras hit Matt Diaz with the bases loaded as the Braves took a 6-5 lead. Veras was able to bounce back with a pair of strikeout to leave the bases loaded, which would prove huge.

As the contest shifted to the bottom of the ninth, Atlanta turned to close Billy Wagner. Wagner walked Wes Helms to start the inning before getting Chris Coghlan to fly out. Sánchez followed with a single and advanced to second on a throw toward third. After intentionally walking Hanley Ramírez to load the bases, Wagner struck out Uggla for the second out of the inning.

With Florida down to its last out, Murphy was told to grab a bat. Before he could swing it, however, the Marlins were able to tie the game as Wagner's pitch got past McCann, allowing pinch runner Emilio Bonifácio to score. Two pitches later, Murphy ended it by lining Wagner's fastball into center field for the walk-off single.

Despite blowing the save in the top of the ninth, Veras picked up the win for Florida while Wagner took the loss. Uggla and Sánchez each had two hits for the Marlins. In addition to McCann's big night at the plate, Martín Prado went 3-for-4 with a solo home run and two runs scored for the Braves.

For his career, Murphy had just 178 career hits. Fifth-six of those, however, came as a member of the Marlins—more than with any other team. Two were walk-offs within the same week. The second of those hits came on this day 15 years ago.

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