MIAMI _ The Miami Marlins have fallen victim to the home-run ball so many times this year _ with the results magnified over the past month.
They flipped the script on Thursday and did just enough late to bring out some heroics in their series finale against the Cincinnati Reds.
The Marlins hit four solo home runs _ none bigger than Harold Ramirez's in the 12th _ in their 4-3, 12-inning walk-off win over the Reds to avoid the four-game sweep at Marlins Park.
The Marlins (48-85) lost the first three games of the series 6-3 on Monday, 8-5 on Tuesday and 5-0 on Wednesday.
Jon Berti, Austin Dean and Starlin Castro all went deep in regulation during the win, the Marlins' first and only win in seven games this year against Cincinnati. Thursday marked just the 12th time this year in 133 games that the Marlins hit at least three home runs in a single game.
The homers backed up a strong performance from Robert Dugger, who was making his second career MLB start and looking to rebound from a shaky MLB debut against the New York Mets on Aug. 5. Dugger, the Marlins' No. 24 overall prospect according to MLBPipeline, held the Reds (63-70) to just two unearned runs on three hits and a walk while striking out seven in seven innings.
All the damage against Dugger came on an Astrides Aquino two-out, two-run home run in the first after a Lewis Brinson fielding error in center field allowed Joey Votto to reach base. The home run was the 71st allowed by Marlins pitching over the last 30 games.
His highlight performance came in the seventh. With runners on the corners and two outs, Dugger capped a 13-pitch at-bat with Jose Iglesias by getting the Reds shortstop to swing at a slider in the dirt to end the inning. Iglesias fouled off nine consecutive pitches in the at-bat.
The offense showed similar resiliency, slowly chipping away at their deficit against Reds starter Alex Wood.
Berti hit a leadoff home run _ his third leadoff homer of the year and the Marlins' seventh overall _ to cut the deficit in half.
Dean, who came into Thursday hitting .206 in 37 major-league games, tied the game with a 402 foot shot to left field.
Castro then put the Marlins ahead for the first time with a home run to left field in the sixth.
Ryne Stanek gave up a game-tying RBI single to Aquino in the eighth inning to force the Marlins into the walk-off situation.
