Arizona Diamondbacks finish perfect homestand with 7-1 romp over Giants
Four weeks ago, the Diamondbacks’ brass planned out the rest of their season, orchestrating how to have their best pitchers start in their most impactful games. The central focus, the series around which everything else radiated, was this week’s two-game set against the Giants.
Among front office members, the importance of these games had set in even before then. As the Diamondbacks plummeted in the standings in early August, they began eyeing nine games against the Cubs and Giants not as a minefield, but as an opportunity. Shortly after that, even manager Torey Lovullo, whose job title mandates that he focus on the here and now, began glimpsing ahead.
“I started to look at this as being a very pivotal part of our season,” Lovullo said.
Late Wednesday afternoon, he could finally look at that stretch through the rearview mirror. Not with a sense of relief — “We got a lot more work to do,” Lovullo noted — but with a sense of pride. By beating the Giants, 7-1, the Diamondbacks completed a two-game sweep, tacking on to their three-game sweep of the Cubs over the weekend. Of those nine games against the Cubs and Giants, they won eight.
In doing so, they essentially eliminated the Giants from wild-card contention, while leaping ahead of the Cubs for the second of three wild-card spots, a thought that would have bordered on impossible two weeks ago. Since the beginning of their first series against the Cubs, the Diamondbacks' playoff odds have jumped from 31.0% to 82.4%, per Fangraphs. At 81-72, they lead the Cubs (79-72) by a game, with the Marlins (79-73) and Reds (79-75) still lurking just beneath the cut line.
They got to that point by playing a game that felt like an encapsulation of everything the Diamondbacks do right when they’re at their best.
Merrill Kelly, one of their two reliable starting pitchers, worked 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball after allowing a lead-off homer. Kelly didn’t have his sharpest stuff and walked three, moving his total to 12 over the past three starts. But unlike his last outing against the Mets, he managed to be effective anyway.
“After that first at-bat, you gotta just kinda move on from it,” Kelly said “Same thing with the walks, I gotta move on from it and execute the next pitch. The last game, that's kinda how things got out of control.”
The bullpen picked Kelly up after his day ended in the seventh, working their fourth consecutive scoreless game as part of a resurgent month. And at the plate, five hitters reached base multiple times. Ketel Marte hit his 24th home run and Gabriel Moreno had three singles to move his batting average in September to .364. Their deep, versatile lineup did the things that deep, versatile lineups do.
But the star, unequivocally, was Corbin Carroll.
As the Diamondbacks’ first hitter of the day, Carroll grounded a single up the middle then stole second. The steal ultimately prevented a double play as Carroll came around to score. On his next at-bat, Carroll lined a single the other way then again stole second. Again, the steal prevented a double play and enabled Carroll to score.
With the pair of stolen bases, Carroll made it an even 50 on the season, becoming just the third player in franchise history to hit that mark. Tony Womack stole 72 in 1999 and Eric Byrnes stole 50 in 2007.
Carroll, rarely the player to focus on personal accomplishments, admitted that the thought crossed his mind as he slid into second base, even before it was broadcast on the center-field scoreboard.
“I'm proud of it,” Carroll said. “There was a lot of work that went into it.”
Prior to the game, baserunning coach Dave McKay brought up the threshold, unprompted. “How many do you need?” McKay asked Carroll. The implication was unstated but perhaps obvious: We’ll get you there.
Carroll wasn’t done yet. In the seventh, with the game likely out of reach, he pulled his 25th home run out to right field. The shot made him the ninth player, and the first rookie, in major-league history to have 25 homers and 50 steals in a season. Among that list: Rickey Henderson, Joe Morgan, Ryne Sandberg and Barry Bonds.
“It is a spectacular feat,” Lovullo said. “And we have to recognize such a special accomplishment.”
The same could be said for the Diamondbacks’ week.
NL Wild Card standings, odds, schedule: DBacks, Cubs, Reds, Marlins, Giants in close race
Read more: Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen remains in search of his best version
Coming Up
Thursday: Off.
Friday: At New York, 4:05 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Brandon Pfaadt (2-8, 5.86) vs. Yankees LHP Carlos Rodon (3-6, 5.90).
Saturday: At New York, 10:05 a.m., Diamondbacks RHP Zach Davies (2-5, 6.81) vs. Yankees TBA.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Dbacks' Corbin Carroll hits rookie milestone in 7-1 win over Giants
