Thirty years ago, Liván Hernández’s first big-league game looked like plenty more was coming.
It turned out to be his only appearance of the 1996 season, but the Cuban right-hander made it count on Sept. 24 at Pro Player Stadium. Hernández delivered three scoreless innings of relief and even chipped in at the plate as the Marlins crushed the Braves, 12-1.
Florida had already built an 11-1 cushion by the time Hernández entered in the top of the sixth, taking over after a strong start from Pat Rapp. He worked around two singles in his first inning, then recorded his first career strikeout when he got Dwight Smith swinging after Javier López singled on the first pitch of Hernández’s MLB career.
The seventh inning brought more traffic, but not much danger. Hernández gave up a single to Luis Polonia and walked Chipper Jones before inducing Andruw Jones into a double play. One pitch later, Eddie Pérez popped out to end the inning.
Then came the bat.
In the bottom half of the frame, Hernández picked up his first career hit in his first career at-bat, lining Joe Borowski’s pitch through the left side with one out. He later scored from second on Jerry Brooks’ RBI single, adding another run to an already lopsided night.
Hernández wasn’t finished on the mound, either. He struck out Smith again for the second out of the eighth, then worked around a two-out walk by getting Mike Mordecai to pop out and close his outing. Jay Powell handled the ninth with a 1-2-3 inning to finish off the win.
Rapp did his part as well, going five innings and allowing one run on seven hits and three walks. Hernández allowed three hits and two walks across his three scoreless innings.
The game was decided almost immediately. Florida opened with a six-run first inning, stringing together seven straight two-out hits.
Jeff Conine doubled home Luis Castillo for the first run, then Devon White, Greg Colbrunn, Kurt Abbott, Charles Johnson, Rapp and Castillo all followed with singles. Colbrunn’s hit was the only one in the stretch that didn’t bring in a run.
After Rapp added an RBI single, Braves manager Bobby Cox pulled starter Steve Avery.
Atlanta managed a run in the fourth, but Florida answered with three in the bottom half. Édgar Rentería delivered a sacrifice fly, and White followed with a two-run double. The Marlins kept it rolling in the fifth with an RBI groundout from Castillo and an RBI single from Rentería to make it 11-1.
Florida piled up 21 hits in all. Castillo led the way with three.
Conine, White, Jesús Tavárez, Colbrunn and Johnson each had two hits, while White drove in a team-high three runs. Castillo, Conine and Johnson each scored twice.
At the time, Hernández was just another September call-up getting his feet wet. That changed quickly.
He would go on to become one of the defining pitchers in Marlins history, spending parts of four seasons with the club and earning the Opening Day start in 1998. But on this day 30 years ago, it was simply the start of it all.
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