Marlins 8, Pirates 2: Conine and Hernández Go Deep, Junk Goes Six

August 12, 2026 - Miami - Otto Lopez threw the ball away in the second, Nick Gonzales scored, and loanDepot park was 1-0 Pittsburgh before the Miami Marlins had taken a swing that mattered.

They took several after that. Griffin Conine reached five times and homered. Heriberto Hernández walked, scored, and hit a two-run shot. Janson Junk threw six innings of one-earned-run ball. Miami won 8-2, its fourth straight, and the Pittsburgh Pirates dropped to 1-7 since the trade deadline.

An error, a bases-loaded single, then the third inning spilled

Gonzales singled. Esmerlyn Valdez singled. Jacob Gonzalez forced a runner at second, Lopez's throw skipped, and Pittsburgh had a 1-0 lead it did not earn with a clean hit. That is the kind of run that can sit on a scoreboard all night if the other club lets it.

Miami did not let it. Jakob Marsee singled. Agustín Ramírez singled. Joe Mack walked. Xavier Edwards chopped an infield single to first, Marsee scored, and it was 1-1 before the inning ended.

The third is the inning the Pirates will want back. Conine doubled leading off against Carmen Mlodzinski. Hernández walked. Ramírez doubled Conine in. 2-1. Mlodzinski was done: two and a third, five hits, four runs. Evan Sisk inherited a mess and made it larger. He walked Javier Sanoja, hit Leo Jiménez, walked Mack, and watched Edwards lift a sacrifice fly. 5-1, four runs in the inning, and the roof was closed on a game that had stopped being close.

Valdez's sacrifice fly in the fourth scored Gonzales again. 5-2. That was Pittsburgh's last run.

Conine's 13th, Hernández's 17th

Lake Bachar used to pitch for Miami. The Pirates got him at the deadline. He threw three innings on Wednesday and gave the Marlins the two swings that ended any comeback math.

Conine homered to center in the fourth, his 13th. 6-2. In the sixth Bachar walked Conine and Hernández hit his 17th, a two-run drive to left-center. 8-2. Conine finished the night on base five times. Hernández scored twice and drove in two. That is a middle of the order doing the work a wild-card club has to do in August.

Junk went six innings, four hits, two runs, one earned, one walk, two strikeouts. He improved to 6-7. He did not dominate. He threw strikes after the error and let the lineup bury a Pirates staff that could not throw a clean inning from the second through the sixth. Tyler Zuber, Calvin Faucher, and Victor Vodnik each threw a scoreless inning behind him.

Edwards drove in two, one on the infield single that tied it and one on the sacrifice fly that made it 5-1. Ramírez had the double that chased Mlodzinski. Mack walked twice and forced in a run. The Marlins left 10 on base and still scored eight, which is the profile of a night where the traffic finally scored instead of dying on the warning track.

Home, and a wild-card race that is still a race

Miami is 62-59 and 38-24 at home. The Associated Press called it the club's best 62-game home run since 2003, the last time the Marlins won a World Series. They sit a game and a half behind the Phillies and Diamondbacks for the last National League wild-card spot. Four in a row at loanDepot park is how you stay in that sentence.

Pittsburgh is 58-64. Brandon Lowe had a hit and nothing else. The Pirates have gone 1-7 since the deadline, and Wednesday was the version of that skid that starts with an unearned run and ends with two homers off the reliever you just acquired. Braxton Ashcraft starts Thursday against Tyler Phillips. Miami will try to sweep.

I am not handing the Marlins a playoff berth after one 8-2 night. I am saying a club that wins at home like this, with Conine on base five times and Junk throwing six, is not a seller's leftover. It is a team still playing for October math.

AthX Engine angle

The Marlins finished with 17 AthX Engine team fantasy points, third on Wednesday's board. Junk had 17 pitching fantasy points. Conine led Miami's bats at 13 hitting fantasy points, third among all hitters on the slate. Hernández added 9. Pittsburgh finished at -5 team fantasy points.

Track Conine, Junk, and the Marlins on the marketplace. AthX Engine grades the production. Price is what traders pay next.

*Sources: MLB.com gameday wrap, ESPN recap, ESPN box score, AthX Engine daily scoring for August 12, 2026. Information only; not financial advice.*