MIAMI -- The ¡°Answer-backs¡± didn¡¯t need to do any answering Tuesday night at loanDepot park. In fact, it was Arizona which was making house calls all night, phoning home three times on homers in its 10-4 win over Miami.
And none was bigger than Corbin Carroll's second-deck grand slam to right-center field in the sixth inning.
¡°[Marlins pitcher George Soriano] snuck a changeup in there and [then] threw a fastball, and I was able to catch up to it,¡± Carroll reflected on the at-bat.
The big fly was Carroll¡¯s sixth of the season, tying him for second among big league hitters. He joined Aaron Judge as the only players to hit a grand slam in each of the 2023, ¡®24 and ¡®25 seasons.
The D-backs mirrored Carroll¡¯s fiery start to the season in Tuesday¡¯s game, scoring five of their 10 runs in the game¡¯s first three innings. The early onslaught was something that manager Torey Lovullo hoped for pregame.
¡°I want to go out and have a no-brainer 9-0 game, like we did against Baltimore [on April 9],¡± Lovullo said pregame, referring to the pair of comeback wins the team had in its last series against Milwaukee. That included a five-run ninth inning it strung together to beat the Brewers, 5-4, on Saturday.
¡°I don¡¯t always like the heartache early, and then the challenges of balancing out and the celebration afterwards. I mean, it¡¯s always awesome to win a game -- doesn¡¯t matter how you do it -- but I think if we go out and pace ourselves and do the things that we are trained to do, and prepare every single day, that¡¯s what gives me the satisfaction.¡±
Arizona answered the call Tuesday, dominating wire to wire in what was an emphatic offensive showing. And Carroll -- as he¡¯s done all season -- made the team¡¯s biggest statement at the plate.
Josh Naylor kicked off Arizona¡¯s scorching night after playing the hero Sunday, opening his Miami series with a single to right.
The D-backs were unable to plate a run in the first, but things changed drastically in the second.
The squad had men on first and third when Carroll drove in the game¡¯s first run with a double, extending his on-base streak to 17 games (the longest to start a season in D-backs history).
Then Geraldo Perdomo, who leads all MLB shortstops in on-base percentage (.431), kept his momentum going with a three-run big fly in the second. Arizona¡¯s lefty hitters were fond of the right-field wall Tuesday, and Naylor joined the party in the third with a 373-foot jack on a low-middle changeup.
The bats paused in innings four and five, but in the sixth, the D-backs put up a five-spot, highlighted by a resounding 434-foot blast from Carroll.
Carroll¡¯s power thoroughly impressed his manager.
¡°The impact of the ball when it left the bat, I was very impressed,¡± Lovullo reflected on the homer, which had an exit velocity of 107.8 mph. ¡°We¡¯re all sitting in the dugout, you could tell that that ball was struck very well.¡±
¡°He¡¯s an unbelievable worker. He¡¯s piece-by-piece eliminating swings-and-misses in parts of the zone. It¡¯s fun when he¡¯s coming to the plate. He¡¯s locked in ¡ and the hard work is paying off.¡±
Carroll attributes his early success to a productive offseason.
¡°[I put in] a lot of good work this offseason¡± he said postgame. ¡°Staying consistent ¡ and just moving a little better. Just always looking to improve, always looking to learn about myself and I think those things for the most part are paying off.¡±
The hard work has Carroll on an MVP-esque tear to start the season. Across MLB, he ranks second in slugging percentage and fourth in OPS (1.158), and he's tied for fourth in doubles (seven) and for sixth in hits (23).
Carroll was dominant in a rookie campaign that culminated in Arizona¡¯s first World Series appearance since 2001 and resulted in him winning the NL Rookie of the Year Award. But he struggled in his sophomore season, seeing his batting average drop over 54 points and stealing 19 fewer bases than he did in 2023.
It¡¯s still early in the season, but thus far, he¡¯s put together arguably his best stretch of baseball since becoming a pro.
¡°I¡¯m always glad he¡¯s on our team,¡± said Merrill Kelly, who struck out nine and gave up just one run over six innings in his third win of the season. ¡°¡ He may be even better [than he was in 2023]. ¡ Obviously he¡¯s a special talent as it is, so the more reps he gets and the more comfortable he gets, it¡¯s gonna be scary for other teams.¡±