Marlins cap – Miami’s season swung after a brutal late-May skid. Following injuries and bullpen miscues, the Marlins finished June with 20 wins, a +53 run differential, and MLB-leading pitching numbers—after snapping into a new rhythm at Coors Field.
DENVER — For a stretch in May, the Marlins looked like a team running on fumes.
On May 31. they had fallen to a season-high eight games below .500 (26-34). the National League’s third-worst record. after being swept by the Mets in Queens. Injuries piled up as well: Robby Snelling. Eury Pérez and Janson Junk all sustained injuries. forcing Miami to use a makeshift rotation. Even when the rotation held. the bullpen often hurt itself. walking batters that would’ve otherwise been retired with better execution. Outside of All-Star hopefuls Otto Lopez. Xavier Edwards and Liam Hicks. the lineup lacked consistent production. becoming a hot topic of social media debate among fans.
In the middle of that slide. manager Clayton McCullough described what it felt like to reach the point where “you just have to get fed up with it.” After Miami’s 14-3 win over the Rockies on Tuesday at Coors Field. he said the earlier beatdowns—especially getting “our butts kicked three days in a row in Citi Field”—were part of how the team decided it couldn’t keep going the same way.
“Maybe it took us getting our butts kicked three days in a row in Citi Field to send shockwaves through [us] a little bit. that we can decide how we want our season to go. ” McCullough said. “It’s one thing to play well. and for someone to beat you. it’s another to just not perform up to your capabilities. and [up to] a standard that we’re trying to set here for ourselves. And so after some point, you just have to get fed up with it, and have to go play better.”.
The calendar finally flipped to June, and the swing wasn’t subtle. By routing the Rockies on Tuesday night. the Marlins finished the month with 20 wins—only the second time in franchise history they’ve won that many games in a single month (the other came in May 2012. when they won 21). Their run differential for June was +53, the best in club history.
Miami (46-40) is six games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2023 season. when the club claimed a National League Wild Card spot. The Marlins also became the first team to enter a calendar month eight-plus games under .500 and end the month six-plus games over .500. according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
McCullough credited the turnaround to sustained improvement rather than a single lucky break.
“Winning 20 games a month is a hard thing to do, and so [it’s a] great way to finish out the month,” he said. “We certainly have a lot of work ahead of us, but again, to continue to play well in a lot of facets is what’s led to this.”
Tuesday’s win capped a strong overall month for Miami’s pitching staff. which finished June with MLB bests for ERA (3.01). opponents’ batting average (.220) and OPS (.639). Even with the rotation taking hits. the starters still ranked second in ERA (3.18). sixth in opponents’ batting average (.227) and fourth in OPS (.657).
Pérez’s day fit the theme of the month. In his second start back from the injured list, he allowed just one run on two hits over 5 1/3 innings. After his return, Pérez said through interpreter Luis Dorante Jr. that he told the team, “It’s not going to be for long.”
“‘I want to be back.’ You can see when there’s a run, a base hit, the way we cheer and enjoy the game is actually contagious. … It’s an incredible group we have. Hopefully it stays the same group we have, and we go to the playoffs with the same group,” Pérez said.
Offense followed suit. The Marlins set season highs for runs and hits (21). Six Marlins finished with multiple hits, and seven drove in at least one run, with Lopez resting. Owen Caissie. Joe Mack and Javier Sanoja—who finished a home run shy of the cycle in the series opener—went deep. Caissie and Mack each hit homers of at least 450 feet; together they became the second Marlins duo to crush homers of at least 450 feet in the same game. joining Christian Yelich and Giancarlo Stanton (May 6. 2016).
Caissie also pointed to finding their stride.
“Not to say we’re getting comfortable, because that’s a bad thing, but we’re settling in, we’re hitting our stride, and really showing what the Marlins can do,” he said. “And Caissie has a combined .850 OPS in May and June after a .469 OPS in April.”
Mack’s improvement has helped anchor the change in momentum. His presence behind the dish made a difference immediately—he threw out his MLB-high 15th baserunner since his Major League debut on May 4. His bat caught up too: after a .500 OPS in May, Mack posted a .904 OPS in June.
As June closed, the message shifted to what happens next. With July coming, Mack warned that the calendar won’t do the work for them.
“‘Calendar is going to change, and it’s nothing different,’ Mack said. “‘You’re at where you’re at. you’re at where your feet are.’ Taking that into next month is going to be very important. Obviously. we had a great June. but the month’s over. so we’ve just got to go into next month and just go dominate there.”.
There’s a kind of clarity that comes after a month like this—after a late-May collapse. after injuries and mistakes. after a lineup that looked stuck. and then after the swing that turned everything. June ended with the Marlins proving they can pull themselves out of a hole that deep. Now the question isn’t whether they can change the story—it’s whether they can keep writing it.
Marlins MLB Miami Marlins Clayton McCullough Eury Perez Otto Lopez June 2026 Coors Field Rockies Robby Snelling Janson Junk Joe Mack Owen Caissie Javier Sanoja Liam Hicks Xavier Edwards