15-year Marliniversary: Ninth-inning blasts from Rabelo, Ramirez rally Fish past Braves

The Florida Marlins teams of the late-2000s failed to make the playoffs, but they were fun to watch—and pretty good.

On this day 15 years ago, the Marlins used a pair of long balls in the ninth inning to rally past the Atlanta Braves, 6-4. Mike Rabelo had the game-tying blast before Hanley Ramirez put Florida ahead for good.

After two strong innings of relief from Justin Miller to keep the Marlins in the game, Florida trailed 4-2 as it came to bat in the top of the ninth inning at Turner Field on June 4, 2008. Atlanta turned to Manny Ascosta, who would face five batters. Unfortunately for the Braves right-hander, four of them scored.

Acosta didn’t fall behind the Marlin hitters, but he couldn’t put them away. Cody Ross singled on a 1-2 pitch to open the inning before Mike Rabelo, an unlikely power source, belted Acosta’s 1-1 offering into the right-centerfield stands for the game-tying two-run home run.

With the score now 4-4, Florida made sure the bleeding didn’t stop. Alfredo Amezaga flied out to center, but Jorge Cantu followed with a line-drive double on an 0-1 pitch to put the go-ahead run in scoring position.

Ramirez was able to battle against Acosta by fouling multiple pitches off. On a 1-2 delivery, the Florida shortstop deposited one over the wall in left-centerfield for a two-run shot—his second home run of the day—to give the Marlins their first lead since the first inning.

Acosta’s afternoon was over, but the damage was done. Kevin Gregg worked around a one-out walk in the ninth to pitch a scoreless frame and collect the save. Miller picked up the victory.

While the dramatics came late, most of the offense in the contest came early. Mike Jacobs singled home the game’s first run in the top of the first, but Atlanta answered with an RBI single in the bottom of the inning.

Against Florida starter Mark Hendrickson, the Braves used RBI singles from Yunel Escobar and Jeff Francoeur to take a 3-1 lead in the second inning. Ramirez led off the third inning with a solo homer off Atlanta starter Tom Glavine. The final Atlanta run came in the sixth on a single from Josh Anderson.

Ramirez, who reached base five times and scored three runs, would enjoy stardom for the Marlins and came through in the clutch many times. Rabelo, on the other hand, homered just four times in three seasons in Major League Baseball. His final blast as a big leaguer came at an opportune time and on this day 15 years ago.

Featured image by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images