For even the best offenses in baseball, 10 runs in a game is no small feat. On this day 10 years ago, the Miami Marlins achieved that total in a single inning for just the second time in their history.
Against the Boston Red Sox at Marlins Park on Aug. 12, 2015, the Marlins used a monster inning to turn a tie game in a rout. J.T. Realmuto‘s grand slam highlighted the frame in a 14-6 win over the Boston Red Sox.
Once down 4-1, Boston had drawn even with a run in the fourth inning and two in the fifth in the second game of a mini two-game series. After Kyle Barraclough struck out the side for Miami in the top of the sixth, his offense saw to it that he got the win.
Eduardo RodrÃguez had worked a 1-2-3 fifth for the Red Sox, but the sixth proved to be a different story. Justin Bour and Cole Gillespie opened the frame with consecutive singles before an RBI single from Realmuto capped a seven-pitch at-bat and put Miami ahead for good, 5-4. Ichiro Suzuki followed with a two-run triple and just like that, the score was 7-4 and RodrÃguez’s night was done.
The pitching change did little to quiet the Marlins bats. Adeiny HechavarrÃa stayed back and lined Ryan Cook‘s second pitch of the night up the middle to push the lead to 8-4. Cook was able to fan Casey McGehee for the first out, but singles from Dee Strange-Gordon, MartÃn Prado and Derek Dietrich followed to extend the advantage to 10-4.Â
The damage seemed done after Bour flied out for the second out of the inning, but Gillespie followed with an infield single to load the bases. One pitch later, Realmuto unloaded them with a screamer over the left-field wall for a grand slam. What had been a 4-4 game when the inning started had become a 14-4 Marlins advantage.
The Red Sox got a pair of runs back in the seventh on David Ortiz’s second home run of the night, but things never got real interesting. Chris Narveson and Brian Ellington combined to strike out five batters over the final two frames.
As a team, the Marlins finished with 17 hits. Realmuto was a double short of the cycle, going 3-for-5 with three runs scored and six RBIs. Strange-Gordon, who led off the game with a home run for Miami, and Gillespie each added three hits. Gillespie scored three times while Suzuki finished 2-for-5 with two runs scored and three RBIs. Ortiz went 3-for-3 for the Red Sox.
The 10-run inning tied a franchise record and served as the club’s first run 10-run frame since 2009. The Marlins would eclipse that mark with 11 runs in an inning against the Milwaukee Brewers in 2019. The 10 runs, however, remains a club record at home. It happened on this day a decade ago.Â