Conine's Walk-Off Single Ends Marlins' Franchise-Worst Skid at 12

Miami finally exhales after an eight-run rollercoaster against Philadelphia

By Gus "Walk-Off" Fields

Twelve games. That's how long the losing had piled up on the Miami Marlins before Griffin Conine stepped in Monday night and ended it with one clean swing.

Conine's walk-off, run-scoring single lifted the Marlins past the Philadelphia Phillies 8-7, snapping a franchise-record 12-game losing streak that had turned a rebuilding season into something closer to a slog. The final score needed all nine innings and then some to arrive — an 8-7 slugfest that had no business ending calmly, and didn't.

For a club that had watched win after win slip away for nearly two weeks, the moment was as much about relief as celebration. A dozen straight losses is the kind of number that follows a team into the clubhouse, into the papers, into every postgame question. Monday, for once, the questions were about what went right.

There's no dressing up a 12-game streak — it's the longest in Marlins history, and it happened. But baseball has a way of turning a page in an instant, and Conine gave Miami that instant. Whether it's the start of something or just one good night in a hard season is a question for the standings to answer. For now, the Marlins have what they didn't have Sunday: a win.

— Compiled from reporting by ESPN.

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