Kevin Millar had a knack for showing up when the moment got loud, and on Sept. 28, 2001, he delivered the kind of swing that sticks for a quarter century.
At Pro Player Stadium, the Florida Marlins stared down a 5-1 hole through three innings and still found a way to beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-5, thanks to Millar’s walk-off homer in the 10th. The blast completed a comeback that had looked unlikely early, then slowly came together one inning at a time.
Philadelphia struck first with a two-run single from Doug Glaville in the opening inning, then Marlon Anderson added an RBI double in the second. Florida answered with Mike Lowell’s solo homer in the bottom of the second, but the Phillies pushed back hard in the third when Scott Rolen and Travis Lee hit back-to-back home runs.
Ryan Dempster had a rough start for Florida, but the bullpen helped steady things. Benito Báez tossed two scoreless innings, and the Marlins chipped away in the fifth. Andy Fox opened the inning with a solo home run, and Eric Owens followed with an RBI single that brought Derrek Lee home and cut the deficit to 5-3.
Kevin Olsen added two more scoreless frames, and Florida kept pressure on in the seventh. Owens delivered again, lining an RBI single that scored Dave Berg and pulled the Marlins within one. That hit also ended Robert Person’s day for Philadelphia.
José Santiago got the final out of the seventh for the Phillies, while Braden Looper and Vic Darensbourg each turned in scoreless innings for Florida. When the game reached the ninth, Philadelphia handed the ball to José Mesa.
Mesa couldn’t finish the job. Berg sparked the rally with a one-out single, moved to second on a passed ball and then advanced to third on a single by Derrek Lee.
With runners on the corners and one out, Owens came close to ending it himself, but his drive to right was caught just short of the wall. It still worked as a sacrifice fly, his third RBI of the day, and the Marlins were tied at 5-5.
Antonio Alfonseca kept the Phillies off the board in the 10th, needing just eight pitches to get three groundouts. That set the table for the bottom of the inning, and Millar did the rest.
Cliff Politte got Lowell to fly out to begin the frame, but on the sixth pitch of the next at-bat, Millar jumped on a fastball left up in the zone and crushed it. The line drive sailed over the “teal tower” in left field for a walk-off home run and finished off the four-run comeback.
Derrek Lee led Florida with three hits, while Berg and Owens had two apiece. Anderson, Travis Lee and Bobby Abreu each finished with two hits for Philadelphia. Alfonseca earned the win, and Politte took the loss.
Millar hit .296 across parts of five seasons with the Marlins, and he ended his 12-year major league career with 170 home runs and three walk-off blasts. The first of those came in a Florida uniform, on this day 25 years ago.
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