MIAMI, Fla.—When offense is hard to come by late into a ballgame, the manager often looks down at his bench and asks himself which one of these guys will insert some juice into the evening.

Sometimes it’s the tired veteran who needs a day off. Other times, it’s the young but promising prospect who couldn’t fit into the starting lineup that particular day.

On Friday night, though, it was Brian Navarreto. He is neither of these aforementioned prototypes. He played two games back in 2020 for the Miami Marlins. Until Friday, that was all of his major league experience.

That is, until he climbed into the batter’s box in the eighth inning of a 9-1 game against the Philadelphia Phillies. Tanner Banks left a fastball middle-in and the 30-year-old catcher drove it to deep center field and over the wall. 

One thousand, eight hundred and thirty-seven days after his last major league appearance, Brian Navarreto had his first career home run.

“As cruel as this game can be sometimes, it reminds you of why we all love it,” Marlins manager Clayton McCullough said. “The game has a way of honoring those that just go about doing the right thing. And that’s Brian Navarreto.”

Navarreto had spent time kicking around the minor leagues with the Marlins and Milwaukee Brewers since then. His contract for the 2025 season was not fully processed until early March, preventing him from even participating in major league spring training this year.

“There were a couple of times that, as a human being, you expect that you’re not going to make it,” Navarreto said. “But that’s when the family comes, supports you, and gives you the strength to be here,” Navarreto said.

One of those family members Navarreto kept close to his heart during this journey was his son D’Brian, born in 2021. Navarreto said he’s a big reason he kept fighting to get back to the majors.

“Now that I have a son, I can say to him that I had a homer in the big leagues when he started growing up,” Navarreto said.

Phillies win off the long ball

Seven of Philadelphia’s nine runs came off the long ball, reminiscent of the style of play seen at the band box they play at back home—thanks to a right field power alley that’s 18 feet shorter than loanDepot park, and a left field that’s about 10 feet shorter.

It’s hard to get the ball out of the park in Miami. It’s even harder to make it look easy. The home runs the Phillies hit were not of the wall-scraper variety: a 410-foot home run from Max Kepler off Valente Bellozo in the second inning; a 420-foot home run from Brandon Marsh against Lake Bachar in the fourth; and a 410-foot shot from Harrison Bader in the following at-bat. Kepler and Marsh both hit the second-deck home run porch in right field.

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The Phillies extended the lead with another three-run homer from Bryson Stott in the seventh against right-handed reliever George Soriano.

As a team, the Marlins have allowed seven home runs in their last two games, including in their 10-5 loss to the Washington Nationals on Wednesday.