30-year Marliniversary: Marlins erase 6-run deficit with 8-run eighth in San Francisco – Marlins

The largest comeback in Florida/Miami Marlins history is seven runs and it’s happened multiple times. The comeback that the Florida Marlins pulled off on this day 30 years ago, however, is worth remembering.

Down 6-0 after five innings, the bats came to life late for Florida. Kurt Abbott‘s grand slam highlighted an eight-run eighth inning as the Marlins rallied past the San Francisco Giants, 10-8.

Through five innings at Candlestick Park on July 17, 1995, Florida had just two hits and had been the victim of three double plays. With San Francisco starter Trevor Wilson out of the game after 87 pitches, the Marlins went to work against the Giants bullpen.

On the first pitch of the sixth inning and first from Kenny Greer, Jeff Conine broke up the shutout with a solo home run. In the seventh, Conine singled home Jerry Browne to cut the deficit to 6-2.

For San Francisco, the eighth inning proved to be disastrous. For Florida, it proved to be glorious.

Dave Burba, Chris Hook and Rod Beck all threw in the inning for San Francisco, but none had much success getting outs. After back-to-back one-out doubles from Alex Arias and Charles Johnson cut the Giants’ lead to 6-3, consecutive walks to Browne and Quilvio Veras loaded the bases.

Hook was able to get Chuck Carr to ground into an RBI fielder’s choice for the second out. With the score now 6-4, the Giants turned to the usually reliable Rod Beck. Not even Beck, however, could get the big out.

On Beck’s third pitch of the game, Conine blooped the game-tying two-run single to right field to knot the score at six. After consecutive walks to Greg Colbrunn and Terry Pendleton reloaded the bases, Abbott unloaded them with one swing.

Abbott had popped out to open the top of the eighth. On an 0-2 pitch from Beck, however, Abbott got a splitter and belted it over the wall in left field for a grand slam to put the Marlins ahead for good, 10-6.

The Giants scored twice in the eighth to make it 10-8, but Robb Nen worked a four-out save to slam the door. Terry Mathews, who worked a 1-2-3 seventh for Florida, earned the win. Beck, who blew his second save in as many days after not blowing a single save during an All-Star campaign in 1994, took the loss.

At the plate, Conine had a monster night, going 4-for-4 with four RBIs and two runs scored. He finished a triple short of the cycle. Four different players had two-hit nights for the Giants, including Glenallen Hill and Mark Carreon, who each drove in two runs.

The six-run comeback, at the time, tied the biggest in Marlins history and served as the largest comeback on the road. It happened on this day three decades ago.