WASHINGTON -- As catcher Joe Mack approached third base at Nationals Park on Tuesday night, his face broke into a smile.
Almost a month after Mack’s Major League debut, he’d finally done it: He went yard.
But that wasn’t all. Mack’s two-run blast to right-center field in the fifth inning of the Marlins’ 7-3 win over the Nats ended Washington’s no-hitter bid and kicked off a sequence that had happened only twice prior in Marlins history: a series of back-to-back-to-back home runs.
“It felt great,” Mack said. “I didn’t know that it was gone as soon as I hit it, but I knew I got it pretty good. But you know, it just -- I was just running around the bases, kind of blacked out a little bit, but just smiling with joy, so it was a really cool experience.”
After Mack crossed home plate to be celebrated in the dugout, it was Heriberto Hernández’s turn to go yard, sending a ball a Statcast-projected 403 feet into center field. But the fun wasn’t done there, as Otto Lopez completed the three homers in a row with a Statcast-projected 414-foot blast of his own to left field.
“For Joe Mack to get his first career homer in a big spot like that -- good for him, and certainly for us,” manager Clayton McCullough said. “And [for] Bert and Otto to follow up right away, it’s certainly a big boost.”
“That was awesome,” Mack said of being part of three straight homers. “I mean, I’ve gone back-to-back with another teammate, but not back-to-back-to-back, so that was pretty cool. Glad I could lead that off.”
The trio of homers were the Marlins’ first set of back-to-back-to-back shots since Aug. 14, 2023, when Jorge Soler, Luis Arraez and Josh Bell all went yard against the Astros. The first and only other set of three straight homers for the Marlins came on Aug. 26, 1998, when Derrek Lee, Cliff Floyd and Kevin Orie went deep against the Cardinals.
But it was Mack’s Statcast-projected 410-foot homer that set the tone for the Fish, who had homered thrice the night prior after going deep just twice as a team in the week prior. And though his ball landed in the hands of a fan with a Mets shirt on -- who then passed it off to a young kid sitting next to him -- the ball eventually made its way back to Mack, who intends on keeping it securely on a shelf at home. (Of course, those fans were both given signed balls, and even an autographed bat, along with some other team gear.)
Mack, Miami’s No. 4 prospect per MLB Pipeline, also became the latest rookie to secure his first career home run as part of a back-to-back-to-back home run scenario. The Twins’ Edouard Julien was the last player to do so prior to Mack, per the Elias Sports Bureau, going deep on April 13, 2023, against the Yankees.
The home run was the latest achievement in Mack’s career, but he’s just getting started -- and the Marlins are quite happy with what they’ve seen thus far.
“We knew what he’d done behind the plate,” McCullough said. “He’s received incredibly well. I think his confidence in the ABS challenge [system] -- he’s doing a really nice job in that regard, too, as he’s gotten more starts under his belt. Saw the caught stealing last night, his ability to block the balls -- I mean, for … still a very young player to come at a demanding position and play with the poise and calmness that he has is very impressive.
“And I think we’re seeing some signs offensively recently that he’s kind of getting his feet underneath him. … Joe’s certainly contributed behind the plate, and it’s nice to see him offensively in the last week or so put some better at-bats together.”
Of course, there was still more to come from Mack’s teammates. Hernández homered again in the ninth inning, a two-run knock to give Miami some much-needed insurance. It was his third home run of the series after he blasted a game-tying pinch-hit homer in the opener on Monday.
“I thought we had a really good approach all day long,” McCullough said. “Some chances early, and Bert came through again. So, really nice all-around game, lot of contributions. That was a good team win. …
“The slug is great ... the ability to change the scoreboard with one swing, and it allows you to put crooked numbers on the scoreboard. So I think guys are just taking really, really healthy passes at appropriate pitches, and hopefully they can keep it going.”
This three-game trip to Washington represented a prime opportunity for the Marlins to find their slug again -- an opportunity they took … and took and took.