Twenty years ago, Cody Ross put on one of the loudest single-game power displays in Marlins history.
On Sept. 11, 2006, at Dolphins Stadium, Ross launched three home runs in the Florida Marlins’ 16-5 win over the New York Mets, finishing with four hits and tying a franchise single-game record with seven RBIs. He became only the second Marlin ever to homer three times in a game, joining Mike Lowell, and the first to do it in a game that did not go to extra innings.
Ross got rolling early and never really let up. After Aníbal Sánchez opened with a 1-2-3 first inning, Miguel Cabrera singled home the game’s first run off Mets starter David Williams. With Florida up 1-0, two runners on and two outs, Ross worked a seven-pitch at-bat and then crushed a three-run shot to left, pushing the lead to 4-0.
The Mets answered in the second with a two-run homer from former Marlins All-Star Cliff Floyd, but that was as close as they would get. Cabrera doubled home two more in the bottom of the inning, and Sánchez added an RBI single in the third. Ross also singled in that frame as the Marlins built a 7-2 cushion through three.
New York and Florida traded solo home runs in the fourth, with Carlos Beltrán going deep for the Mets and Dan Uggla answering for the Marlins. After Ross flied out in the inning, Miguel Olivo singled home Cabrera to make it 9-3 after four.
The game stayed there until the sixth, when Josh Willingham led off by taking Heath Bell deep. After a Wes Helms double, Ross came up again and drove Bell’s 2-0 pitch over the left-field wall for his second homer of the day.
Florida kept piling on after Sánchez’s night ended. He allowed three runs on four hits and one walk while striking out eight.
In the seventh, Jason Wood doubled, an error brought in another run, and Helms added an RBI fielder’s choice. Then Ross stepped in against Royce Ring with one on and two outs, ran the count full once more, and sent another ball out to left field for his third homer.
That blast finished the Marlins’ scoring and capped a huge afternoon for Ross. The Mets added two runs against José García, who was making his big-league debut, in the eighth, but García settled down and worked a 1-2-3 ninth to close it out.
Ross remains the only Marlin to hit three home runs in a game at the franchise’s original ballpark. Since then, Brian Anderson did it on Sept. 18, 2020, and Kyle Stowers joined the club on July 13, 2025. But on this day 20 years ago, Ross owned the stage.
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