MIAMI — Two outs. Bottom of the ninth. Miami trailing by one. Javier Sanoja had just doubled to center, and Owen Caissie stepped to the plate as a pinch hitter.
Victor Vodnik threw a changeup. Caissie stayed back and drove it over the wall in right center field. Two-run walk-off homer. Marlins win 4–3. Series sweep. The first 3–0 start for Miami since 2009.
One day after delivering the go-ahead single in Game 2, the 23-year-old from Burlington, Ontario finished the job again — this time with one swing, on one pitch, as his teammates flooded out of the dugout to mob him at home plate.
“It feels awesome. I mean, this team’s great,” Caissie said, still catching his breath. His approach at the plate? Simple. “Hit the ball. Get it middle and hit the ball.” Then, on the weekend as a whole: “We have a lot of fun and we’re gonna win ball games.”
How the Rockies took the lead — and how Miami chased it
Max Meyer did not get off to the start the Marlins wanted for his 2026 season debut. Jordan Beck greeted him in the first inning with a three-run double — Hunter Goodman, Willi Castro, and TJ Rumfield all reaching before Beck put a ball into left field — and just like that Miami was down 3–0 before a Marlin had scored.
Meyer settled after that. He worked five innings, struck out five, and held Colorado scoreless from the second inning through the fifth. The first-inning eruption inflated his final line, but his stuff was present. He gave the Marlins a chance. That was enough.
Miami answered immediately. Otto Lopez doubled home Jakob Marsee in the bottom of the first to make it 3–1. In the second, Xavier Edwards singled, stole second, and scored on a Deyvison De Los Santos double — De Los Santos’s first major league hit, in his first major league at-bat, one day after being recalled from Triple-A Jacksonville. Austin Slater added a sacrifice fly to pull Miami within 3–2, and that’s where it stayed for the next six innings.
José Quintana, 37 years old and in his 15th major league season, gave Colorado exactly what they needed — 4⅓ innings of two-run ball, escaping jams, keeping the game close. He walked four but allowed only four hits. Antonio Senzatela followed and was the sharpest arm Colorado deployed: 2⅔ innings, three strikeouts, no runs.
The bullpen held the door open
Tyler Phillips replaced Meyer in the sixth and delivered two clean innings — one hit, two strikeouts, no runs. John King followed with a scoreless eighth, two more strikeouts. Through nine innings, Miami’s pitchers after that first inning allowed Colorado nothing.
The eighth inning nearly ended Miami’s chances early, in the wrong way. With the bases loaded and one out, Victor Vodnik came in and struck out Heriberto Hernández on a full count to strand the runners and preserve Colorado’s 3–2 lead. It looked like the escape that would hold.
