25-year Marliniversary: Marlins rally from 6 down in 9th to stun Cardinals

For the 1998 Florida Marlins, there were far more moments to forget than remember. On this day 25 years ago, however, the Marlins pulled off a comeback for the ages.

Trailing 6-0 after eight innings, Florida rallied to stun the St. Louis Cardinals. After homering four times in the ninth inning, the Marlins scored a run in the 10th to pull off an unthinkable 7-6 victory.

With a win seemingly in the bag, the Cardinals turned to John Frascatore for the top of the ninth at Busch Stadium on Aug. 26, 1998. Eight pitches in, the Marlins had cut a six-run deficit in half.

Derrek Lee, Cliff Floyd and Kevin Orie opened the inning with back-to-back-to-back home runs. St. Louis then turned to Lance Painter, who got Randy Knorr to ground out before walking Luis Castillo and giving up a single to Dave Berg. With the tying run at the plate, manager Tony La Russa made another pitching change.

Jeff Brantley got the call for the Cardinals. On a 2-2 pitch to Mark Kotsay, the pinch-hitting lefty blasted a breaking ball into the bullpen behind the wall in right-centerfield for the game-tying three-run home run. Brantley followed by striking out Álex González and Todd Dunwoody, but the damage was done.

After Antonio Alfonseca worked a scoreless ninth, the Marlins came to the plate to face Juan Acevedo in the 10th inning. Lee struck out to begin the inning, but a single from Floyd and an error on St. Louis shortstop Luis Ordaz put two on for Knorr. On a 2-0 pitch, Knorr lined a fastball down the left-field line for an RBI double to give the Marlins their first lead, 7-6.

Acevedo would leave a pair of runners in scoring position, but the St. Louis offense could get nothing going in the 10th. Tom Lampkin singled to start the inning, but after Eli Marrero struck out, Pat Kelly grounded into a game-ending double play.

Prior to the bottom of the seventh inning, neither team had scored in St. Louis. After pushing a run across in the seventh, the Cardinals appeared to put the game away with five runs in the eighth. Two-run homers from Mark McGwire and John Mabry highlighted the big inning.

McGwire, Ron Gant, and Brian Jordan each finished with two hits for St. Louis. Floyd (4) and Orie (2) combined for six of the 10 hits for Florida.

Although the 1998 season culminated in a 54-108 record, the six-run ninth inning comeback remains the largest in team history. It came on this day a quarter-century ago.

Photo courtesy of Getty Images

Mike Ferguson is a contributor for Fish on First, who covers Miami Marlins history. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson