20-year Marliniversary: Marlins score 20 runs on club record 25 hits in rout of Braves

Throughout the Florida/Miami Marlins’ 30-plus-year history in Major League Baseball, offense hasn’t always come easy. On this day 20 years ago, however, the hits and runs were aplenty.

Against the Atlanta Braves, the Florida Marlins put up 20 runs for the first time ever. The Fish did so with a club record 25 hits in a 20-1 victory.

Things actually started well for the Braves at Pro Player Stadium on July 1, 2003. Against Florida starter Josh Beckett, Atlanta was able to draw first blood on an RBI groundout from Gary Sheffield in the top of the first. The Braves didn’t score again while Florida never stopped scoring.

The Marlins answered with a run in the bottom of the inning on a bases-loaded walk to Derrek Lee. From there, crooked numbers became commonplace.

Florida opened things up with six runs in the second inning. After a scoreless third inning, the Marlins added two runs each in the fourth, sixth, and eighth, three runs in the fifth inning, and four in the seventh. As a team, the Marlins finished 11-for-20 with runners in scoring position.

In total, 11 different Marlins had a hit. Luis Castillo and Iván Rodríguez each went 4-for-5 with three runs scored. Miguel Cabrera was 4-for-6 with a solo home run off Mike Hampton in the second and a two-run blast off Roberto Hernandez in the eighth to cap the scoring.

Mike Lowell finished 3-for-3 with three RBIs and three runs scored in the victory. Ramon Castro, who entered the game in the sixth, added a two-run home run. Lee had just one hit, but it was a two-run triple in the fifth.

With the victory, Florida moved to 43-42 – putting it above .500 for the first time since it was 13-12 in late-April. The Braves would bounce back with a 2-1 win the following day, but the Marlins took the rubber game of a three-game series and held a winning record for the remainder of the year en route to their second World Series.

The club record of 20 runs would last for more than 14 years before the Marlins put 22 runs in a win over the Texas Rangers on July 26, 2017. The 25 hits, however, remains a franchise record. Those hits came on this day two decades ago. 

Photo By Eliot J. Schechter/Getty Images