On a beautiful, yet buggy day in Cedar River, the Marlins and Padres met head-to-head in their first NLDS appearance. The game opened with a close safe call at first base. The Marlins would homer twice in the inning, giving them an early 3-0 lead. The Padres got a runner on base in the bottom half, but ran into three straight outs to end the inning. Stephen Cross and the Marlins didn't stop in the second, hitting a single and a double, and eventually scored the runners with their third home run of the day. In the bottom of the second inning, Marlins leading 6-0, Evan Cross and the Padres again had a runner on base, but failed to score. After scoring one run in the top half of the third, the Marlins were three outs from their first playoff win. The Marlins got two outs via strikeouts with a runner on base, needing one more out to end it. After a hit-by-pitch and a single, the Padres had loaded the bases. Another hit batter would give the Padres their first run of the game. Next at-bat, in a 0-1 count, Evan hit a ground ball into left field, scoring a second run. The vibes were starting to change between the two teams. The Padres started to feel like they could tie the game if things started going downhill for the Marlins. One pitch into the next at-bat, Evan popped a ball up in left field. Fighting the sun and breeze, Stephen quickly covered ground and reached out with his glove, making one of the most amazing catches in league history. The catch sealed the game, giving the Marlins a 7-2 win over the Padres. "The energy started going the other way , but that didn't change my approach." "Of course, I didn't want to blow the game, I was a little nervous there at the end, but I'm glad it ended in a win." When asked about the game-ending catch, Stephen replied by saying, "I didn't think I was going to catch it."

The Marlins will be advancing into the NLCS for the first time, facing the winner of the Cubs-Cardinals NLDS matchup. Later after the game, we asked Evan what his thoughts were on the frustrating loss for his Padres team. "It's tough. We didn't play to the expectations that we had for this game." "We didn't pitch well and our offense was not great until the end."