Corbin Carroll keeps stacking milestones, and this one landed in the middle of a Diamondbacks loss.
The Arizona star crushed the 100th home run of his career Wednesday night and later added his 57th triple in a 6-4 defeat to the Colorado Rockies at Chase Field. Carroll reached those marks in his 606th career game, which put him in a category all his own: he became the first player in MLB history to log at least 100 home runs, 50 triples and 100 stolen bases in his first 650 games.
The list of players who have done it in fewer than 700 games is even shorter. Carroll is only the second to get there, joining Willie Mays. For a 25-year-old, that’s rare air.
Thursday also brought a different kind of update for the Diamondbacks, as MLB Pipeline released its newest prospect rankings, including the overall top 100 and refreshed top-30 lists for every club. The latest look at Arizona’s system wasn’t described as ideal.
Elsewhere around the league, Kyle Schwarber wasted no time making an impact in the MLB Field of Dreams Game presented by John Deere. He launched a leadoff homer into the corn beyond the right-field wall, then added another blast a few innings later as the Phillies rolled past the Twins, 7-1.
That second homer fit the numbers, too. The player who leads the Majors in home runs with 37 also leads in home runs that have landed in a cornfield, with two.
In the National League MVP conversation, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Shohei Ohtani both kept adding to their cases Wednesday. Crow-Armstrong delivered a game-tying RBI double and then scored on a go-ahead home run in a Cubs win, while Ohtani hit a go-ahead homer in a Dodgers win. The Dodgers are 73-48 and the Cubs are 71-50, both still within striking distance of the best record in baseball.
There’s still plenty of time left in August, with six weeks to go for both players to keep building their résumés. But one wrinkle could matter: whether Ohtani pitches again in the regular season, and if so, how much.
On that front, there has been movement. Sort of.
And then there was Max Muncy, who reached a Dodgers milestone of his own Thursday. The veteran became the all-time home run leader at Dodger Stadium, hitting his 131st in the sixth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers. He entered as a pinch-hitter for Miguel Rojas and sent a 426-foot shot off Brewers reliever Antonio Senzatela.
In Other News...
Diamondbacks Get Their Best Chance Yet To Rescue The Playoff Chase
A bad weekend against the Rockies dropped the Diamondbacks out of a playoff spot and left them chasing both the Phillies and Padres, a reminder that there is no margin left in a race this tight. Now comes a trip through Atlanta, where Arizona has lined up its best-looking rotation answer of the stretch run with Brandon Pfaadt, Eduardo Rodriguez and Michael Soroka expected to take the ball in the three-game set.
For a club trying to claw back into position, the series feels like the kind of test that can reset the conversation quickly. The pitching matchups give Arizona a chance to steady itself against a quality opponent, and the pressure is obvious: if the Diamondbacks want back in, this is the sort of series they need to take advantage of before the schedule and the standings get even less forgiving. [Read more 🡒]