Kyle Stowers steps up in rare Marlins Opening Day win

MIAMI, FL—You couldn't have asked for a better Opening Day game. Sandy Alcantara made his long-awaited return to the mound, and although the Miami Marlins were trailing when he was taken out, his teammates erased a 4-1 deficit and defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates in walk-off fashion by a final score of 5-4. It was the first Marlins Opening Day win at home since 2014 and the second ever at their current ballpark.

Outfielder Kyle Stowers, who had a rough 50-game sample with the Marlins last season, just completed an equally rough spring training. He slashed .175/.365/.175/.540 with three RBI, but walked 12 times. Then he began Thursday's game with two strikeouts.

"We saw high-quality at-bats from Kyle (Stowers) all spring long," said Marlins manager Clayton McCullough. "The scoreboard not reflecting that, but he was making some good swing decisions in the box. Not easy to have the first couple go that way, but that's a professional. You got to hang in there and your next at-bat could be the most important."

Stowers bounced back and worked back-to-back full-count walks. In the bottom of the ninth inning, with a runner on third, he hit a 105.5 mph RBI single down the right field line off of David Bednar to knock in the first walk-off win of the MLB season.

"It's special," said Stowers. "Obviously, there was already a lot of energy with it being Opening Day, thought the atmosphere was great. It's just those moments any time of the year which are why we play the game, opportunities like that. I was just happy to be the guy in that moment."

Stowers' heroics also snapped a losing streak against the Pirates, who beat the Marlins in all seven of their head-to-head matchups last season.

For the first time in 571 days, Sandy Alcantara pitched for the Fish. After cruising through 4 ⅔ innings, striking out seven, the Marlins ace ran into some trouble, surrendering an 2-RBI single to Bryan Reynolds, giving the Pirates a 2-1 lead in the top of the fifth inning. In total, he allowed three hits and walked four on 91 pitches.

"It wasn't my best outing today," said Alcantara following the game. "I was fighting since the first inning. I just need to take away the walks and be okay. I just gotta think about what I did today and prepare myself for my next start."

Alcantara went with his sinker, changeup, four-seam fastball and slider. His four-seam fastball was averaging 98.2 mph while the sinker averaged 97.2 mph.

Although Paul Skenes struck out seven Marlins, they made the reigning National League Rookie of the Year work. Skenes finished his outing going 5 ⅓ innings, allowing two runs off of three hits and walking two. The Marlins went on to finish the night with seven walks, matching their highest total from the 2024 season.

"I thought we had a lot of really high quality at-bats," said McCullough. "Paul is tough, and to at least stress him some and get his pitch count up there. When their guys came out of the bullpen, our guys put together some really good at-bats."

For the first time since the shortened 2020 season, the Marlins have begun with a 1-0 record. On Friday, Connor Gillispie will take the mound for the Marlins. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 pm.