Corbin Carroll’s grand slam lifts Diamondbacks to series win over Blue Jays

PHOENIX — Corbin Carroll punctuated an Arizona Diamondbacks rally in the eighth inning on Saturday against the Toronto Blue Jays with a go-ahead grand slam, cementing a 6-2 win at Chase Field.

The rally started with singles from Ildemaro Vargas — extending his hitting streak to 17 games dating back to last year — and Alek Thomas. Ketel Marte walked on four pitches, setting the table for Carroll.

On a 3-1 pitch from Blue Jays reliever Jeff Hoffman, Carroll saw a fastball right down the middle and punched it to left-center field as the home crowd erupted.

CORBIN CARROLL GRAND SLAM!@DBACKS LEAD IN THE 8TH! pic.twitter.com/ob9mVU4q2V

— MLB (@MLB) April 19, 2026

It was Carroll’s fourth career grand slam.

The Diamondbacks have won four straight games and four consecutive series. They improved to 13-8 on the season, 13-5 since their opening series at the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“I think the pitching, the run prevention’s been very good. I think that the timely hitting, the hitting with runners scoring position. I think it’s just been good, complimentary baseball,” Carroll said of the recent success.

The Diamondbacks have a chance to earn their second sweep of the season on Sunday.

Diamondbacks’ bullpen to the rescue

Saturday was far from a flawless performance for the D-backs.

Starting pitcher Zac Gallen allowed three hits in the first inning to fall behind 1-0 before he settled in.

A defensive mistake from shortstop Geraldo Perdomo in the sixth allowed Toronto to score the game-tying run at 2-2.

Perdomo took his foot off the bag on a potential inning-ending double play, extending said frame. The play was initially ruled a double play, and the Diamondbacks came off the field before a late challenge was successful. Gallen — who said coming off the field and going back out was a little deflating — allowed the game-tying single to Kazuma Okamoto.

And the offense struggled to string many hits together with a slew of pop-ups and one walk until Marte came up in the eighth.

But Gallen was solid with 5.2 innings and two earned runs despite nine hits, and the bullpen did another masterful job keeping runs off the board.

Ryan Thompson, Juan Morillo and Kevin Ginkel combined for 3.1 scoreless innings in relief of Gallen. Arizona’s bullpen has a 2.70 ERA over the past 11 games.

“I think it can’t be overshadowed that the bullpen has done a great job holding the games close,” Gallen said. “The bullpen was great tonight. Thompson came in and then Morillo, just to keep it to where Corbin could have that big swing and win the game.”

The D-backs have won three of Gallen’s last four starts.

With the pitching doing its job, the offense just needed the one big blow, and it came with the right player up at the right time.

“We talk about building innings here,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “I think we’ve been very efficient with runners in scoring position so far this season, and the right guys in the right spot came up. I thought the Marte at-bat — I loved how Vargas got on. I loved AT’s base hit — but I thought the Marte at-bat was critical to load the bases for the next two guys.

“Corbin deserves the credit, but the rest of the guys built the inning for him and that’s what we stand on.”

The D-backs finished the game 3-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. also returned to left field for the first time since he tore his right ACL on Sept. 1 last season. He did not record a hit but collected an outfield assist on a dime to second base.

Max Scherzer, the one-time Diamondback 17 years ago who has continued to pitch at 41 years old, tossed six innings with two earned runs for Toronto in what could have been his last start at Chase Field.

Accountability from Geraldo Perdomo

Saturday was a strange game for Perdomo.

He finished with three hits, getting his average up to .229 amidst a slow start at the plate. But he had the defensive blunder and was thrown out trying to extend a single into a double. He was nearly picked off at first base, but Toronto first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. dropped the throw from Scherzer.

Lovullo said Perdomo apologized for a couple miscues after the game.

“You talk about accountability, you talk about guys that are aware. He’s alive,” Lovullo said. “He just doesn’t evaluate his day based on offense. I love the hits, he’s coming, but he’s also aware of his game outside of offense.”

Lovullo mentioned that there was a good chance Perdomo would get a rest day on Sunday.

Ryne Nelson pitches finale in Diamondbacks-Blue Jays series

The series between two of the last three World Series runners-up concludes on Sunday at 1:10 p.m. MST.

Ryne Nelson will make the start for Arizona, with veteran right-hander Kevin Gausman going for Toronto.

Catch the game on ESPN 620 AM and the Arizona Sports app. 

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