Corbin Carroll has been living under the microscope, and on a night when the Diamondbacks badly needed someone to blink first, he answered with the loudest swing in the building.
Arizona’s 8-7 walk-off win over the Marlins was messy, frantic and almost certainly not the kind of game the Diamondbacks drew up. But after falling behind 7-4 in the eighth, they kept clawing, kept surviving and finally got the finish they needed when Carroll launched a two-run homer in the ninth.
It was a huge escape for Arizona, which improved to 80-71 and kept its season pace at 86-76. More important, it prevented a loss that would have dropped the Diamondbacks 3.5 games back and made the upcoming series against the Padres feel a lot less meaningful. Instead, they’re still standing.
The night started with Corbin Burnes making his second start back from Tommy John surgery, and the first two innings were a roller coaster. He opened by retiring Miami in order, then ran into trouble immediately in the second. A pair of singles, a two-run triple and a sacrifice fly put the Marlins ahead 3-0 and sent the dooming into overdrive.
Arizona answered in the third. Pavin Smith led off with a double, Jordan Lawlar followed with a single to the right side, and after Lawlar stole second, Smith scored on the same play.
That was Smith’s second stolen base of the season, matching his career high. Lawlar moved to third on the errant throw home, and Lars Nootbaar erased the rest of the deficit with a homer, his fourth since joining Arizona, to tie it at 3-3.
Miami didn’t let Burnes off the hook. Two outs into the fourth, the Marlins hit back-to-back homers to regain the lead.
Burnes lasted through two outs in the fifth before reaching his expected limit of 75 pitches. He gave up five runs on five hits, struck out four and didn’t walk anyone.
The Diamondbacks spent much of the night wasting chances. They put the leadoff man on in seven of the nine innings, but outside the third they couldn’t do enough with those openings.
In the fifth, they loaded the bases with one out after a Nootbaar single, a Gabriel Moreno hit by pitch and a Geraldo Perdomo walk. Carroll then dropped a soft RBI blooper down the left-field line to cut the gap to 5-4, but Nolan Arenado struck out and Tim Tawa grounded out to end the threat.
Jonathan Loaisiga gave Arizona 1.1 scoreless innings after Burnes left, but the seventh belonged to the wrong version of Andrew Ginkel. The Marlins tagged him for two runs and stretched the lead to 7-4.
The Diamondbacks immediately had another chance in the bottom half, putting runners on the corners with nobody out on hits by Ketel Marte and Moreno. Perdomo, Carroll and Arenado all struck out.
By then, the Padres’ win in Coors had pushed Arizona’s win probability down to 5.3 percent. The eighth inning did not begin any more calmly. Justin Martinez, coming off an immaculate inning, allowed a one-out triple and loaded the bases before escaping with the score still 7-4, including a runner thrown out at home.
That gave the Diamondbacks one last opening, and they took it. Tawa walked to start the bottom of the eighth, and one out later Lawlar cut the deficit to one with his fifth homer of the year. Juan Morillo threw a scoreless ninth, and Miami closer Pete Fairbanks came in after recently returning from the injured list.
Fairbanks didn’t stay long. He threw just six pitches, recorded one strike, walked Moreno and then left after the Miami trainer came out.
The Marlins turned to Jack Ralston, who has only 10 major league games on his résumé, and Perdomo bunted pinch-runner Tommy Troy into scoring position. Carroll then stepped in and delivered, sending his 21st homer just fair down the right-field line for the walk-off.
Nootbaar finished with three hits. Carroll and Lawlar had two apiece.
Perdomo drew two walks, and Moreno reached three times with a hit, a walk and a hit by pitch. Arizona pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts, their most since April 10 in Philadelphia, when they had 16.
Morillo and Ginkel got all of their outs via strikeout.
The same two teams are back at it tomorrow, with Michael Soroka set to start. The Marlins will send Janson Junk to the mound, which at least gives everyone an easy joke for the preview. First pitch is at 6:40 p.m.
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Because Snchez is out of options, Arizona will have to clear room for him on the active roster right away. The catch is that he will not be eligible for postseason play with the Diamondbacks this year, which adds another layer to a decision that already carries some risk. For a team trying to patch a lineup need on the fly, it is the sort of move that could matter in September even if the bigger payoff may have to wait. [Read more 🡒]