Corbin Carroll’s grand slam highlights Diamondbacks’ palate cleanser win over Angels
Corbin Carroll hit a grand slam to put the Diamondbacks ahead, and Eduardo Rodriguez took it from there on Wednesday against the Angels.
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PHOENIX — Corbin Carroll’s grand slam in the second inning on Wednesday was a moment the Arizona Diamondbacks have been looking for.
The timely slug gave the D-backs a 5-1 lead in the second inning against the Los Angeles Angels, breathing room the club has not experienced much of with a series of tight victories lately.
Arizona ran with it, capturing an 8-1 victory to claim the series over L.A.
“I think the dugout felt an immediate sigh of relief and took the air out of some very tense moments and games over the past 12, 14 days,” manager Torey Lovullo said. “And that’s what we want guys to do. We want them to come up, build an inning, see pitches, have their type of at-bat and then when the right person in the right situation comes up and slugs and breaks the game open, it’s not by accident.”
“I think when you can put up four or five runs early like that, it really helps the pitcher do their job and just be able to go right at hitters,” Carroll added.
After getting shut out 7-0 on Tuesday in one of the most lackluster offensive performances of the year, Wednesday was a palate cleanser with 11 hits, four walks and a hit-by-pitch.
Ketel Marte, Gabriel Moreno, Jordan Lawlar and Tommy Troy all recorded multiple hits. Moreno went 3-for-3, while Troy hit his first career triple and drove in two runs.
Carroll has hit five grand slams in his career, tied for second in Diamondbacks history with Eugenio Suarez and trailing Matt Williams (seven).
Angels rookie southpaw Sam Aldegheri only made it through three innings before getting pulled.
The D-backs had averaged 2.7 runs in games following their six previous shutout losses this year, as Wednesday was their best response as a lineup.
It also took a stabilizing performance on the mound to capture the series, and Eduardo Rodriguez recovered from a lead-off home run beautifully.
Zach Neto started the game with a bang, and Rodriguez blanked the Angels through seven innings from there to lower his ERA to 2.45. He allowed six hits and three walks but struck out five and induced three critical double plays.
“The command on the fastball was good, especially the fastball up, and they were chasing, so I would just keep throwing it,” Rodriguez said. “Getting quick outs, the ground ball double plays, the defense was great behind me today. Every ground ball was a double play, I love it.”
Rodriguez has five starts with seven-plus innings and one or fewer earned runs allowed this season. Only Cristopher Sanchez of the Philadelphia Phillies has more.
Rodriguez earned his 100th career win.
The Diamondbacks improved to 38-36 this season, while the Angels dropped to 30-45.
Corbin Carroll continues to crush lefties
In Major League Baseball, Carroll is second in OPS against left-handed pitching at 1.113. He has hit .389 left-on-left this season.
Carroll did not enter the season as a reverse-splits hitter, so how is this happening?
“Just obviously working hard at it, a couple different things I’m doing in my routine, making sure I’m always touching the lefty angles,” Carroll said. “Machine, Trajekt, arm, just making sure — there’s stretches of the season where you might not see a lefty for a week, so just making sure I’m still getting that work in even when we do have those stretches.”
The grand slam was hit off an Aldegheri changeup, and Carroll said left-on-left changeups are not common.
But he saw four of them in his previous at-bat, which ended with a strikeout looking after a successful Angels ABS challenge.
“I felt like it helped that I’d seen it the at-bat before and was able to put a good swing on it,” Carroll said.
Wednesday attendance
28,433
Next up, Twins
The Diamondbacks host the Minnesota Twins for three games, starting on Friday. Here are the pitching probables.
Friday: RHP Michael Soroka (8-3, 3.11) vs. LHP Connor Prielipp (2-4, 5.26)
Saturday: RHP Zac Gallen (3-5, 5.35) vs. RHP Taj Bradley (5-3, 4.14)
Sunday: RHP Ryne Nelson (3-5, 4.97) vs. TBA
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Comments
20 Comments
...Pavin Smith was the 7th pick in the 2017 MLB draft and the Dbacks still have high hopes for him after being in the majors for seven seasons.
In the 2017 draft, there were five players that became an All-Star or an All-MLB Team member that were drafted between #14 to #34 and only two players that were drafted between #1 to #13 became an All-Star or an All-MLB Team Member. My point is that the player determines their success not their selection in the draft.
By the way, I like Tommy Troy as a player and I do hope that Tommy Troy makes it.
Congrats to the Dbacks on the win...it was needed after the 7-0 beating that we took yesterday.
A big shout out to E-Rod for pitching a good game.
E-Rod had a game ERA of 1.29...I don't like how the articles don't include the starting pitcher's ERA for the game. Is it to hide the facts that Kelly, Gallen and Nelson are on the list of the eight MLB starting pitchers with the highest ERAs? Just think that we have three starting pitchers out of the eight pitchers on this dubious list.
Every day is a new adventure with this ballclub.....or is it like a box of chocolates?