MIAMI (AP) 鈥� Clayton McCullough breathed a sigh of relief. The Marlins finally won a game.
Miami overcame two-run, ninth-inning deficit in the ninth on Monday to beat and snap a 12-game losing streak 鈥� the longest such stretch in franchise history.
It was the Marlins’ first win since beating Seattle at home on July 9 and ensured they would not suffer their fifth straight sweep.
鈥淓verybody feels good,” McCullough said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 no lie everyone in the building has been grinding hard now for a couple of weeks and frustrated with things, but certainly it feels great to get a win and I think in the fashion that we did it’d be hard to ever question this group鈥檚 toughness and willingness to compete.鈥�
Griffin Conine singled in the winning run against Philadelphia closer Jhoan Duran, who entered in the ninth with a 7-5 lead before loading the bases with no outs.
Heriberto Hern谩ndez hit the tying single against Duran before racing home on Conine’s single and jumping into his teammates’ arms in celebration on the field.
鈥淚鈥檝e never been a part of anything like the last two weeks,鈥� said Conine, who also homered in the first inning. 鈥淚 think we handled it fine. It鈥檚 just like at a certain point, it鈥檚 the same way you feel when you鈥檙e 0-for-15 at the plate. You feel like you鈥檙e never going to get a hit again. And that鈥檚 not true. You know that deep down you will, but the way it feels is like 鈥� it felt like we were never going to win again.鈥�
The Marlins had lost 11 straight games three times in their history. They lost 11 consecutive games twice during separate stretches in 1998 when the club lost 108 games, and again in June 2011.
Before Monday鈥檚 game, McCullough said he saw on a recent day off and couldn鈥檛 help but think of his team鈥檚 misfortunes.
鈥淚 feel a bit like Odysseus,鈥� he said. “Like I鈥檓 away from home for 10 years. At some point, I鈥檓 going to return home. I don鈥檛 know what baseball god I infuriated but it鈥檚 where we鈥檙e at, so today is an opportunity.鈥�
The Marlins used that opportunity early.
After Bryce Harper put Philadelphia ahead with a two-run shot in the first, Miami responded by scoring five straight runs against ace Zack Wheeler.
After blowing the lead in the sixth, the Marlins scored three in the ninth, including Conine’s first career walk-off hit.
鈥淎s far as what this does, pressure鈥檚 off,鈥� Conine said. “Now we鈥檙e on a winning streak. Now we want more of it. So it鈥檚 like forget the last two weeks and move on. I think we can learn from it, and I think that we will.鈥�
The Marlins had done plenty of winning before the All-Star break and were at 52-42 and three games behind NL East-leading Atlanta. They also had the third NL wild-card spot.
But the unraveling began in the weekend home series against Cleveland prior to the break. Outside of a 7-2 to loss against San Diego on July 25, Miami had lost the other 11 games by three runs or less, including a on Sunday.
Miami could barely generate offense during its losing streak, going .208 with a .607 OPS during that stretch. Seven players recorded a hit on Monday 鈥� six of them had multiple hits.
鈥淓verybody is going to leave here tonight feeling much different than we have over the last 12-odd games,鈥� McCullough said. 鈥淲e鈥檒l come in tomorrow and look 鈥� we got Game 1 of the series. As rough as it鈥檚 been, we still need to try to get back to winning series. Winning the first game of a big divisional series like this is important.鈥�
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