A solo-HR record: 8-track tape measure

"In the heat of the game, you're just trying to score more points than another team," Reynolds said. "That's all we were worried about."

Afterward, everyone learned the game was historic.

"I've never seen anything like that -- I guess nobody else has, either," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said.

The teams had tied the old record by the middle of the second inning. But by night's end, Marlins manager Don Mattingly had seen enough -- at least when it came to Rockies homers.

"Obviously, early on, it was good," Mattingly said. "When they got the three, even there, you feel like, 'OK, it's 3-2 in the second.' You felt pretty good about your chances. They just tacked on."

Along with being an MLB first, the eight homers also are the most ever at Marlins Park, which opened in 2012. Coincidentally, then-Brewer Reynolds also hit two homers when the previous high of seven was set on May 22, 2014 -- Miami hit four home runs to Milwaukee's three in a 9-5 Brewers win.

"It's unbelievable today," said the Marlins' Marcell Ozuna, who homered twice off Rockies starter Jorge De La Rosa for his first career multi-homer game. "An amazing day. That's happened, eight home runs. No one on base, solo."

Ozuna and Giancarlo Stanton homered consecutively in the first.

Marlins homer three times

COL@MIA: Ozuna, Stanton combine for three home runs

Giancarlo Stanton and Marcell Ozuna combine to hit three solo homers for all of the Marlins' runs in their game against the Rockies

The night began turning strange in the top of the second. The Rockies' Trevor Story swung at a two-strike Paul Clemens pitch that hit him on his right shoulder, but plate umpire Ron Kulpa called a foul ball -- thus making the play unreviewable -- that kept Story alive for a leadoff homer, the 18th of his rookie year. Reynolds and Nick Hundley homered consecutively with one out.

Ozuma tied the game at 3 in the fourth with another homer off De La Rosa, who would earn a win by pitching through six innings without another long ball.

Reynolds' homer in the fifth off Brian Ellington gave the Rockies the lead, and Charlie Blackmon went yard in the eighth off Nick Wittgren.

The Rockies had lost the first three games in a four-game series, and managed one hit in the first game and two in the third. Other than a six-run inning in the second game, they scored all of one run.

"I just noticed that we had hit quite a few homers," Blackmon said. "I did not notice that it was a record."

Mattingly said, "We've held them down for three days. Tonight they kind of broke out."

In past seasons, homers were common for Reynolds, who hit 44 in 2009 and exceeded 20 each year from 2008-14. This year with the Rockies he has a .290 average -- 58 points above the career mark he took into the season -- in part because he has hit the opposite way. Monday brought his '16 home run total to six.

But on a night when homers were plentiful, Reynolds took advantage.

"They hung me a curveball and hung me a slider," he said. "Those pitches are easier to turn on than 97-in. It seems everybody we face is 95-plus. It's been kind of a different season for me."

No one thought those juicy pitches would come -- for so many hitters -- on one night.

"Eight solo home runs … I'd have lost that bet," Weiss said.

This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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A solo-HR record: 8-track tape measure