15-year Marliniversary: Infante atones for costly error with walk-off blast vs. former team

An All-Star for the Atlanta Braves in 2010, infielder Omar Infante never supplied a whole lot of power, hitting just 82 home runs over parts of 15 years in Major League Baseball. His only walk-off homer came as a member of the Florida Marlins and against his former team – on this day 15 years ago.

Against the Braves, Infante played the role of hero at Sun Life Stadium on Sept. 19, 2011. His walk-off two-run home run atoned for an earlier fielding error and lifted Florida to a thrilling 6-5 win.

Through six innings, the Marlins appeared in great shape, holding a 4-1 lead. Atlanta changed that with four runs in the top of the seventh.

After former Marlins All-Star second baseman Dan Uggla homered off Ricky Nolasco to lead off the inning, the Florida starter was able to induce consecutive groundouts. That third out, however, proved to be elusive.

Nolasco surrendered a two-out single to another former Florida infielder, Álex González, before yielding consecutive walks to Jason Heyward and Brooks Conrad. With the bases loaded and two outs, Florida turned to lefty Mike Dunn, a former member of the Braves.

Dunn surrendered an infield single to Michael Bourn and then issued a game-tying four-pitch walk to Martín Prado. An error by Infante one pitch later allowed the go-ahead run to score and what had been a 4-1 lead for Florida when the inning started was now a 5-4 advantage for the Braves.

Eric O'Flaherty stranded the tying run in scoring position in the bottom of the seventh inning and Jonny Venters worked a 1-2-3 eighth for Atlanta. Closer Craig Kimbrel was able retire Greg Dobbs and John Baker to open the bottom of the ninth, but an infield single by the speedy Emilio Bonifácio on an 0-2 pitch allowed Infante the opportunity to atone for his earlier error.

After taking the first pitch for a ball, Infante turned around Kimbrel’s 96-mph fastball and put it well into the seats over the “teal tower” in left field for the first walk-off home run of his career and sixth homer of the season. An All-Star for the first time in 2011, it was Kimbrel’s first blown save in more than three months.

For the night, all of the Marlins’ offense came via the home run. Giancarlo (then known as Mike) Stanton took Atlanta starter Mike Minor deep for solo home runs in the first and third innings to give Florida a 2-0 lead. After Heyward answered with a solo shot for the Braves in the top of the sixth, Logan Morrison gave the Marlins a 4-1 lead with a two-run blast in the bottom of the inning.

At the top of the order, Bonifácio, Infante and Stanton each had two of the 10 hits for the Marlins. Stanton scored three times. Uggla had two of the six hits for the Braves.

As for Infante, he enjoyed a solid 15-year career with four teams, hitting .271 with more than 1,400 career hits. While his only All-Star Game appearance came as a member of the Braves in 2010, his only walk-off blast came as a member of the Marlins. It happened on this day 15 years ago.