Marlins even series behind Conine's 'surreal' first long ball

Stepping into the box for his first at-bat of Saturday night's game on a picture perfect night in San Francisco, Miami Marlins outfielder and new call-up Griffin Conine knew exactly what he was looking for.

"Game plan was to get on his heater up. He threw me a lot of heaters at bat, took some good swings. Just felt like I was a touch late, so wanted to catch one out front, and he gave me one."

Giants starting pitcher Mason Black "gave" Conine a 91.7 mph four-seamer middle-up, and Miami's anticipated rookie did not miss it. The 27-year-old drubbed a 112.5 mph line drive to right field for his first big league homer. The foul pole was the only obstacle that stood in its way from plunging deep into McCovey Cove. That gave the Marlins an early 2-0 lead.

Behind a steady five-plus innings from Edward Cabrera and another round-tripper off the bat of Connor Norby, they held onto that lead for the rest of the night, ending with a competitive 4-3 win to even the set at one game apiece.

 "Surreal is the word that keeps popping up in my head," Conine said. "It feels like a dream."

When asked by Bally Sports Florida's Craig Minervini if he ever envisioned his first blast hitting the foul pole, Conine jokingly noted "Never, not once. I think that might be the first time I've ever hit the foul pole on a homer."

With his long ball, Conine has already achieved a career cycle in less than a week since his awaited promotion to The Show. Through 17 plate appearances, Miami's newest slugger is OPS'ing .919, showing the impact he can make at the highest level .

"That's why I'm here, obviously, to achieve a dream and all that, but I'm here to help this team win, and anytime I can do that, I'm doing my job."

Conine's strong start as a Marlin doesn't stop at the plate, either, as manager Skip Schumaker mentioned postgame.

"Every hit so far except I think one's been extra-base hits, so he's got that. He provides really good defense too. So he's a smart baseball player. It's not that not surprising that you know how he grew up."

Of Note

- Schumaker had high praise for his starter: "I was really excited to see him attack after that first inning. After that, he really was attacking inside the strike zone with all of his pitches." Cabrera didn't stack as many swings-and-misses as most have grown to expect from the flamethrower with just three. Instead, Cabrera was more in the zone than usual with a 62% strike percentage. The righty relied on his four-seamer the most, throwing his heater 39% of the time (had been averaging 26% usage this season entering Saturday).

- Norby's sixth-inning solo shot was the third homer in his near two-week-long tenure with the Fish, as well as his ninth extra-base hit.

- David Hensley delivered the lone RBI not from a homer with a productive groundout in the top of the seventh.

- The waiver claim crew in the bullpen was nearly perfect, as Xzavion Curry and John McMillon both delivered hitless outings, while Jesús Tinoco allowed one hit, although it was a costly solo blast from Michael Conforto.

Up Next

The first pitch for Sunday's rubber match is scheduled for 4:05 ET. Giants 2024 All-Star Logan Webb, who pitched to the tune of a 2.16 ERA in the month of August, takes the mound for Bob Melvin's club. Darren McCaughan is slated to make his first start of the season for Miami.