Marlins' scorching-hot June continues with sweep of Giants

MIAMI – Kyle Stowers doesn’t think the scorching-hot Marlins have played their best baseball yet. If that’s the case, watch out.

Stowers homered and scored two runs as the Marlins swept the Giants in Sunday afternoon’s 2-1 victory at loanDepot park.

Miami (40-38) reached 40 wins, 10 games ahead of last year’s pace thanks to an MLB-best 14-4 in June. The club also extended its home win streak to eight – the franchise’s longest since June 20-July 1, 2009, at the old ballpark.

The Marlins are above .500 this deep into the season for the first time since 2023, when the club secured a National League Wild Card berth. That season was also the last time Miami won at least 14 games in an 18-game span.

“I think there's another gear we have to hit as far as the results go,” Stowers said. “Just take it one day at a time. Got the Rangers coming in, and got to find a way to win a game tomorrow.”

Before Sunday’s finale, the Marlins welcomed back Griffin Conine from the injured list, but placed the club’s homer and RBI leader Liam Hicks on the IL.

This created the latest challenge for a club that thrives on the next-man-up mentality.

“It really goes back to being incredibly unselfish,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “The team winning is the ultimate goal every day, and guys know they're going to get an opportunity in some form or fashion to contribute to that, and just to be ready for when their name’s called.”

New dad Stowers took righty Logan Webb deep for a leadoff home run in the second, giving Miami a 1-0 lead. Stowers ambushed Webb’s first-pitch sinker, sending it over the right-center wall.

Stowers, who has three homers over his last four games, matched Owen Caissie with eight on the season – second most on the club. As a 2025 All-Star, Stowers was often the hero for Miami. He appears to be finding his stride in 2026 after an injury delayed his campaign.

“Really special,” Stowers said. “I had my dad here, too. It's really cool. [There are] little moments during the year that [you] may pause and wake up with a little extra gratitude, and just to be able to be doing this as a father, and then also with my dad here. Again, just one of those cool little moments to reflect on.”

San Francisco tied the game at 1 with two outs in the third, when Luis Arraez doubled and scored on Casey Schmitt’s single against righty Ryan Gusto. That’s all the Giants would scratch across vs. Gusto, who struck out a season-high six batters and allowed one run over 4 1/3 innings.

Gusto is one of the players stepping up, making his fourth start of the month with Eury Pérez, Janson Junk and Robby Snelling sidelined. He’s trending up despite the rough outing in Philadelphia (5 ER in 4 2/3 IP) by pitching into the fifth in each of his last two starts.

“I feel like I did my job well today,” Gusto said. “4.1 though, that's still kind of a lot to go with the bullpen for. Every single guy that rolls out there does their job as well, and I mean, it's a pretty incredible thing. I'm happy to be a part of it.”

Miami regained the lead with a two-out rally of its own in the fourth. Stowers walked and scored from first on Otto Lopez’s RBI double to the right-center gap.

Four relievers – John King (1 1/3 IP), Calvin Faucher (1 1/3 IP), Michael Petersen (IP) and Lake Bachar (IP) – took care of business with primary setup man Anthony Bender and closer Pete Fairbanks unavailable after pitching on consecutive days.

Bachar, who opened Friday’s game, saved his first game of the season and fourth of his career. He became the ninth Marlin to notch a save in 2026, tied with the Nationals and Reds for second most in MLB (Twins, 11).

Despite the injuries, the Marlins have posted the lowest ERA (3.06) in the Majors this month. A big reason for Miami’s surge has been the relief corps, in particular. Entering Sunday, its fWAR (1.4) led the Majors and its ERA (2.54) ranked second behind the Braves (2.48).

“It's been great,” Bachar said. “All those guys in the bullpen, everyone knows that things line up maybe a little bit different than we want at times, but we know that we're getting put into the correct situation for us. And so we have all the confidence in the world and continue to work every day, and just to be able to be ready for all these opportunities.”