Jake McCarthy hits 2 HRs, Diamondbacks overcome early exits to beat Phillies

PHOENIX — Diamondbacks star player Ketel Marte and ace Zac Gallen exited early in Saturday’s game against the Phillies, and yet, Arizona crushed Philadelphia 11-1.

Concern is minimal for both Marte (ankle contusion) and Gallen (cramping) going forward, but their teammates picked them up in another showcase of handling adversity.

Jake McCarthy stayed hot with the first multi-home run performance of his career, blasting a pair of two-run homers. The first dinger extended Arizona’s lead to 4-1 in the fifth inning, and the second broke the game open during a seven-run seventh frame.

“In the moment it sucks,” McCarthy said of seeing teammates leave the game. “But when they’re gone, it’s like, ‘Okay, we can either make excuses or try to keep going.’ I think we’ve done a pretty good job of weathering that storm.”

Corbin Carroll hit a three-run shot to cap the scoring outburst, his eighth home run in 27 games after hitting two through his first 87 contests. Carroll went the other way on a sinker above the zone against Philadelphia’s Yunior Marte, who allowed all seven runs.

Jake McCarthy has the 1st multi-HR game of his career! 💪 pic.twitter.com/d4p3uSZctl

— MLB (@MLB) August 11, 2024

Marte had homered in the first inning off starter Aaron Nola before going down with a left ankle contusion, the club called it. Marte left the game in the fourth inning and is considered day-to-day.

The Diamondbacks are 33-11 this season when they hit two or more home runs, and Arizona has left the yard a league-leading 65 times since July 1. Arizona has MLB’s longest active streak of seven straight games with multiple home runs.

“It’s cool, I mean, I’ve only just started contributing to that,” McCarthy joked.

And the fireworks had quite the audience, as an announced crowd of 46,183 packed Chase Field for NL championship replica ring night.

“The fans were fantastic, almost 50,000 fans in here and we felt their energy,” Lovullo said.

“It was a great team effort, it was slug, it was a number of hits, special day for Jake and we’ve got to be ready again tomorrow to hopefully win a series.”

The D-backs finished with 15 hits, at least one from eight of the nine starters.

“The offense just gave us some breathing room, which was great. Guys have put really good at-bats together over the last three, four weeks, it’s been fun to watch,” Gallen said.

Gallen got through 4.1 innings with one earned run before leaving with a trainer. From there, Arizona’s bullpen locked the game down. Gallen showed no concern he would miss his next start.

Kevin Ginkel, Joe Mantiply and Scott McGough bridged the gap without allowing a run — or even a hit.

Arizona (65-53) clinched at least a four-game series split with a chance to win the set on Sunday.

Merrill Kelly will make his long-awaited return from the 60-day injured list to take the hill. Cristopher Sanchez will pitch for Philadelphia (69-48).

First pitch is at 1:10 p.m.

Follow @alexjweiner