This Date in Miami Marlins History: March 28th

On March 28th, 2020, the Miami Marlins are still awaiting opening day.

Coronavirus countermeasures have necessitated the postponement of major league baseball’s opening day for at least six weeks, and maybe more. It’s a good time to look back at this date in Florida and Miami Marlins franchise history.

2019

Prior to the 2019 campaign, the Miami Marlins had never played regular season baseball as early as March 28th. The earliest opening day in Marlins history would see them opening a four-game home-set against the Colorado Rockies, themselves coming off a strong 91-72 campaign and an NLDS appearance.

The Marlins were coming off a 63-98 season, and we were cautiously optimistic that they may be able to finagle a subtle gain in year two of their rebuild. History will show, however, that they could not. In the first game on their road to a 57-105 season, the Miami Marlins hosted the Rockies and 25,423 others at Marlins Park.

Marlins starter Jose Urena and his Rockies counterpart Kyle Freeland traded zeroes for the first three frames. The fourth inning was another matter for Urena.

Nolan Arenado led off with a double, then moved to third base on a Miguel Rojas error to put runners on the corners. Still with nobody out, David Dahl singled Arenado home to open the scoring and moved Trevor Story over to third.

Urena calmed down a bit following that, striking out Ian Desmond on four pitches. He then surrendered a two run double to Ryan McMahon, aided by a Lewis Brinson error in center field. Chris Ianetta followed that with yet another RBI-double to make it 4-0.

Freeland allowed Starlin Castro a single in the Marlins half of the frame, but he was stranded in place. The top of the fifth would see the Rockies put it completely out of reach when Story hit a two-out solo homer into left field. Back-to-back doubles by Dahl and Desmond would give Colorado a very comfortable six-run cushion.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Marlins offense finally showed signs of life with a JT Riddle leadoff homer for Miami’s first run of the season. Neil Walker led off the eighth with a solo shot, and Jorge Alfaro hit a two-out home run in the bottom of the ninth to cut the Rockies’ lead to three runs. The four hits represented the entirety of the Marlins offense for the game along with a Rojas walk.

The Marlins bullpen wasn’t half bad — Tayron Guerrero struck out two in a perfect sixth, Austin Brice struck out another pair in two hitless relief innings, and Tyler Kinley threw a perfect ninth and struck a batter out.

Other Miami Marlins History

1987

Bryan Morris is born in Tullahoma, TN. In 2014, he joined the Miami Marlins from the Pittsburgh Pirates organization and eventually played in 130 games for them.

Morris posted a 9-5 record for the Miami Marlins. He struck out 96 in 121 1/ 3 innings, and racked up a 1.343 WHIP during his stay. His 2.30 ERA ranks him on top of the Marlins career leaderboard out of pitchers who threw over 100 innings while with the team.

2001

The Marlins made a deal with the San Diego Padres to send Cesar Crespo and Mark Kotsay to the west coast for Eric Owens, Matt Clement, and Omar Ortiz.

2002

The Marlins sent 1997 second round pick, first baseman Jeff Bailey to the Montreal Expos for a player to be named later. Eventually, Bailey would reach the majors in 2007 with the Boston Red Sox, and hit .228 over parts of three seasons.

More from Marlins History

• Miami Marlins One-Year Wonder 1B
• Miami Marlins players & the 2023 Hall of Fame
• Former Miami Marlins star is retiring
• Gary Sheffield or Mark Buehrle, will either Marlin make the Hall of Fame?
• Why don’t we see more dynasties? Part 3

2006

The Marlins made a pair of trades. They sent Ryan Jorgensen to the Cincinnati Reds for Carlos Piste and sent Lincoln Holdzkom and Zach McCormack to the Chicago Cubs for Todd Wellemeyer.

2008

Jeff Conine signed with the Florida Marlins on a one-day contract and retired from his playing career.

2009

The Florida Marlins acquired Ronny Paulino for Hector Correa in a trade with the San Francisco Giants.