The Miami Marlins have recorded their first ever Opening Day walkoff hit in franchise history in a 5-4 Marlins win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday from Marlins Park in Miami, Florida. The Marlins hero was left fielder Kyle Stowers of El Cajon, California, who had a one-out RBI single, which scored catcher Nick Fortes of DeLand, Florida, who led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a triple. Stowers had scored a Marlins run in the eight inning. He got on base from a leadoff walk, and then scored on an Otto Lopez RBI single.
Second Season in Miami
This is Stowers’s second season with the Marlins after three seasons with the Baltimore Orioles. Last season he split his time in Baltimore and Miami after being traded by the Orioles to the Marlins with infielder Connor Norby of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota for pitcher Trevor Rogers of Carlsbad, New Mexico on July 30, 2024. In 2024, Stowers batted .208 with three home runs and 24 runs batted with the Orioles and Marlins.
Notable starting pitching matchup
The Pirates and Marlins had a notable pitching matchup. The Pirates’s starting pitcher was Paul Skenes of Fullerton, California and the Marlins’s starting pitcher was Sandy Alcantara of Azua, Dominican Republic. This is only the second time ever that the reigning rookie of the year faced a previous Cy Young winner on opening day according to Sarah Langs of mlb.com. Alcantara won the National League Cy Young Award with the Marlins in 2022.
The first time a Cy Young Award winner faced the reigning rookie of the year was on April 6, 1971. That is when the New York Mets (with starting pitcher Tom Seaver of Fresno, California, the 1969 Cy Young Award winner) beat the Montreal Expos (with starting pitcher Carl Morton of Kansas City, Missouri, the 1970 National League Rookie of the Year) 4-2. Interestingly, Seaver was also a rookie of the year winner as he was honoured in 1967.
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