KANSAS CITY – Heriberto Hernández knocked a pair of RBI doubles and right fielder Griffin Conine made two stellar catches in the Marlins’ 9-6 comeback win over the Royals on Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium.
Miami (71-69) moved within 2 1/2 games of Arizona (74-67) for the third and final National League Wild Card spot with 22 games remaining and ace Sandy Alcantara starting Thursday’s series finale.
Trailing 6-4 in the sixth, the Marlins scored three runs against the Royals’ bullpen to take a 7-6 lead.
Javier Sanoja singled and Jakob Marsee walked before the left-handed-hitting Conine produced a pinch-hit RBI single against righty Jose Cuas. With runners on the corners, Jared Serna then sent a sinking liner to the right-center gap. Though Kyle Isbel robbed Serna of his first career hit, the game-tying sacrifice fly counted as his first RBI.
Following a two-out passed ball by Royals catcher Carter Jensen that put Conine in scoring position, Hernández collected his second RBI double in as many at-bats to give Miami a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
That’s because Conine contributed with the glove in consecutive innings to thwart Royals rallies and help five Marlins relievers combine for 4 1/3 scoreless frames.
With runners on the corners in the sixth, Conine made a diving catch on Vinnie Pasquantino’s sinking liner to end the inning. In the seventh, Conine made a leaping catch at the wall in right-center to snag Michael Massey’s fly ball with a runner at first and no outs.
Conine’s heroics came with his father, former Marlin and Royal Jeff, in attendance.
Sanoja and Marsee hit back-to-back home runs with two outs in the ninth, giving the Marlins three homers on the night (Kyle Stowers went deep in the third). Miami improved to 30-8 when clubbing two or more long balls this season.