10-year Marliniversary: Marlins top Braves in Fort Bragg Game, 5-2

One of the youngest franchises in baseball, the Miami Marlins haven’t been a part of many “firsts” throughout Major League Baseball history. On this day, however, they did become the first team to win a sporting event on an active U.S. military base.

On July 3, 2016, the Marlins drew the eyes on a nationally television audience for ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. The result was a 5-2 win over the Atlanta Braves at Fort Bragg Park on the U.S. base in North Carolina.

For four innings, Miami’s Adam Conley and Atlanta’s Matt Wisler traded zeroes. The Marlins finally broke through in the top of the fifth. After Adeiny Hechavarría tripled on the first pitch of the inning, he came home for the first run on J.T. Realmuto’s RBI single. Realmuto, Martín Prado and Christian Yelich put together three straight singles to push the lead to 2-0.

Conley capped his stellar start by working a 1-2-3 sixth inning. The Miami lefty allowed just four hits and one walk in six shutout innings to pick up the win.

The Marlins added insurance runs over the next three innings. Prado singled home Realmuto in the seventh before Giancarlo Stanton tripled to lead off the eighth and scored on a Derek Dietrich sacrifice fly to push the lead to 4-0. Realmuto capped a three-hit, three-run, two-RBI night with a solo home run to lead off the ninth.

After scoreless innings each from Marlins relievers David Phelps and Fernando Rodney, the Braves were able to break up the shutout with two runs off Miami close AJ Ramos in the ninth. Erick Aybar doubled in the first run before A.J. Pierzynski’s sacrifice fly scored Jeff Francoeur.

The Marlins finished with 13 hits in the win to just five for Atlanta. Freddie Freeman and Aybar each had two hits for the Braves. At the top of the Marlins’ order, Realmuto, Prado and Yelich each had three hits. Hechavarría added two.

The 5-2 triumph gave the Marlins the series victory. In addition to being the first sporting event ever played on an active U.S. military base, it was also the first MLB game played in the state of North Carolina. It ended in a Marlins victory on this day a decade ago.