20-year Marliniversary: Willis hits first career homer in win over Reds

Pitcher Dontrelle Willis left South Florida as the Florida Marlins’ all-time leader in wins, but pitching wasn’t the only thing that Willis could do. Over his five years with the club, Willis also hit eight home runs, the most by a pitcher in team history.

On this day 20 years ago, Willis went yard for the first time. His solo shot in the fifth inning put the Marlins ahead for good in a 3-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds.

Willis was making his fifth career start as Florida and Cincinnati met at Pro Player Stadium on May 31, 2003. Willis shined on the mound, tossing seven innings, but it was his own swing that put him in line for the win.

With the contest even 1-1, Willis led off the bottom of the fifth inning. On the first pitch of the inning from Danny Graves, Willis took a letter-high fastball and blasted it into the right-centerfield stands to give the Marlins a 2-1 lead.

Willis’ offense seemed to add firepower to his pitching. He allowed just a walk over his final three innings of work. For the night, he yielded just a run on five hits and three walks while striking out eight in a stellar outing.

The Marlins would add a run in the seventh as Juan Pierre squeezed home Alex Gonzalez. Cincinnati answered with a run in the eighth off Tim Spooneybarger, but Braden Looper shut the door with three groundouts in the ninth to earn the save.

Cincinnati’s only run of the night off Willis came in the top of the second as Sean Casey singled home Aaron Boone. Florida drew even in the third on an RBI single from Ivan Rodriguez. Rodriguez (2) and Juan Encarnacion (3) combined for five of the nine hits for the Marlins.

In five years with the Marlins, Willis batted .234. His career wins record was later broken by Ricky Nolasco, but with the National League switching to a designated hitter, it’s unlikely his franchise record for home runs by a pitcher ever will be. He first went deep on this day two decades ago.

Photo by Eliot J. Schechter/Getty Images