30-year Marliniversary: Marlins rally with 3 in ninth before walking off Rockies in 13 – Marlins

For the early parts of their franchises, expansion sisters, the Florida Marlins and Colorado Rockies, were good measuring sticks for one another.

More than three decades later, the Marlins are the only one of the two to have won the World Series. Colorado, however, was the first to make the postseason in 1995. Although the Rockies won the National League Wild Card, the Marlins won the head-to-head series that year, taking seven of the 12 matchups.

The longest of those contests came on this day 30 years ago. After staying alive with three runs in the ninth, Chuck Carr‘s walk-off double gave Florida a 5-4 victory in 13 innings.

A solo home run by Greg Colbrunn in the fourth inning had accounted for all the Florida offense as the Marlins came to bat in the bottom of the ninth at Joe Robbie Stadium on Aug. 8, 1995. Down 4-1, it took the Marlins just eight pitches to put the tying run on base.

Terry Pendleton started the rally against Colorado starter Bret Saberhagen with a solid single. After Colbrunn was hit by a pitch, Andre Dawson singled to load the bases and end Saberhagen’s night. The Rockies turned to closer Darren Holmes.

Holmes allowed just one hit, but was unable to seal the deal. Steve Decker cut the deficit to 4-2 with an RBI single before Colbrunn scored on a wild pitch. A sacrifice fly by Alex Arias to shallow right field scored Carr, the speedy pinch runner, tied the game and forced extra innings.

For the 10th and 11th innings, Florida’s Yorkis Pérez and Colorado’s Curt Leskanic traded zeroes. In the 12th, the Marlins’ Alejandro Peña and the Rockies’ Steve Reed exchanged scoreless frames. After Buddy Groom threw a 1-2-3 top of the 13th, the Marlins finally ended the contest.

Roger Bailey opened the bottom of the 13th by getting Jeff Conine to pop out, but that was the only out he’d record. Pendleton followed with a single and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Colbrunn followed by drawing an intentional walk.

One pitch later, Carr played the role of hero.

Carr lined Bailey’s offering into the right-field corner. Pendleton scored easily as the Marlins won the nearly four-hour contest.

Conine, Colbrunn, Pendleton and Decker each finished with two hits as the Marlins finished with 12 knocks to 10 for Colorado. Ellis Burks homered for the Rockies in the first to get the scoring started. Larry Walker went 2-for-5 with a two-run triple in the sixth that capped the scoring for Colorado.

The Marlins would go on to sweep the three-game set in South Florida, pulling out three one-run victories. The first of those needed 13 innings to complete. It happened on this day three decades ago.