How Marlins scored 6 unanswered runs in Easter Sunday comeback win vs. Yankees

The Miami Marlins arrived at Yankee Stadium early Sunday morning, but didn't leave the field until long after sunset. Despite a rain delay of three and a half hours and a complication to their original pitching plan, they defeated the New York Yankees by a final score of 7-6, taking one out of three in the weekend series.

Chris Paddack was supposed to make his second start of the season, but because of the rain delay, manager Clayton McCullough made the decision to have Pete Fairbanks start the game as an opener. With Fairbanks' wife set to give birth to their third child, the Marlins had Fairbanks start the game so he can get back to his family sooner. Had the game started on time, Paddack would've started the game and Fairbanks would've been available out of the bullpen.

Ben Rice became the first hitter to drive in runs off of Fairbanks in 2026. He took advantage of a fastball ball down for his third home run of the season, driving it 410 feet deep to right field, giving the Bronx Bombers an early 3-1 lead. In his lone inning of work, Fairbanks allowed three runs on three hits, one walk and one strikeout before turning things over to Andrew Nardi.

Paddack didn't take the mound until 6:04 p.m, still trailing 3-1. His Marlins debut, which took place earlier in the week against the Chicago White Sox, was disappointing, allowing eight runs on eight hits. On Sunday night against a veteran Yankees lineup, Paddack gave the Marlins 4 ⅔ innings where the lone run allowed was unearned. He struck out four in the process.

 

On the other hand, he did allow four walks and surrendered a total of eight hard-hit balls, with five of them coming on the changeup. His overall xFIP of 5.54 indicates that luck was on his side after the opposite was true in his previous appearance.

"Chris was terrific," Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. "It was a little bit unique today with how things started and him coming out of the bullpen. The third inning was a big inning, where he made an error, trying to limit it to one run. From there to hold it down, and navigate himself really well through a really good offensive team. Elevated the fastball really well, used the changeup appropriately."

The Marlins came back from their deficit gradually. Down 4-1 in the top of the fourth inning, Xavier Edwards—the hottest hitter in baseball—knocked in an RBI double, scoring Connor Norby from first to cut the Yankees lead in half. Edwards now has a hit in all nine games this season, and is currently tied with Andy Pages of the Los Angeles Dodgers with a .471 batting average. In the top of the sixth, a throwing error from shortstop Jose Caballero allowed Heriberto Hernández to reach first base safely, allowing Jakob Marsee to score, making it a 4-3 game.

In the top of eighth inning, with one out, Yankees reliever Fernando Cruz walked Marsee and that is when manager Aaron Boone went with righty Jake Bird out of the bullpen to face Otto Lopez. Bird walked Lopez, hit Griffin Conine, who pinch hit for Hernández.

McCullough made a second swap, opting to pinch-hit Graham Pauley in Norby's spot in the lineup. With a 1-2 count, on the fifth pitch of the at-bat, Bird's sweeper hung right in the middle of the zone and Pauley smacked a 104.3 mph RBI double, giving the Marlins a 5-4 lead. For Pauley, that marked his pinch-hit of his MLB career. Xavier Edwards plated two more runs with a single, padding the lead to 7-4.

"Not an easy thing to come off the bench and do," McCullough said regarding Pauley. "He got some really good swings off...Massive hit for us, and for him."

John King, Calvin Faucher and Anthony Bender followed Paddack, who shut down the Yankees lineup, allowing only one hit within that span. With Fairbanks already on a plane out of town, McCullough turned to Bender in a save situation for the first time this season. He began the bottom of the ninth inning by getting Aaron Judge to ground out, but then surrendered back-to-back walks. With runners on first and second with one out, Bender struck out former Fish Giancarlo Stanton swinging. Another former Marlin in Jazz Chisholm Jr. drove two runs in on a double, making it a one-run game. 

The Marlins opted to intentionally walk Austin Wells, in favor of potentially facing Caballero, but Boone used Miami native J.C. Escarra as a pinch-hitter. Escarra struck out on three pitches, ending the game.

Standing atop the National League East with a 6-3 record, the Marlins return home to begin a four-game series against the Cincinnati Reds. Janson Junk will take the mound on Monday at 6:40 p.m.