PHOENIX (AP) — Rookie sensation Corbin Carroll is among the National League’s leaders in homers, triples and stolen bases.
If there was a category for being a big ol’ pain in the rear end on the basepaths, he’d be right near the top of that leaderboard as well.
Carroll started an eighth-inning rally with some distracting base running, Dominic Canzone brought his fellow rookie home with a single for the go-ahead run and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Seattle Mariners 4-3 on Saturday night.
Carroll started the decisive rally in the eighth with a walk off reliever Andrés Muñoz. The All-Star then advanced to second on a balk by Muñoz (2-4) and stole third against the flat-footed Mariners infield a few pitches later. Seattle pulled its infield in with one out before Canzone delivered a chopper that bounced through to break the 3-all tie.
“It’s just a classic case of being prepped and being ready,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said about Carroll’s aggressive baserunning. “He’s capable of doing that against any pitcher at any time. It was the difference in the game.”
Carroll has 32 stolen bases and 21 homers this season, consistently causing problems for opposing teams with his power-speed combo. Canzone had two RBI singles, coming through with his clutch hit in the eighth in just his 14th big league game.
“I was just trying to hit anything hard and maybe get a little lucky,” Canzone said. “And I did get a little lucky.”
It was a much-needed win for the D-backs, who are still just 7-15 in July.
The Mariners had their three-game winning streak snapped. Seattle was trying to jump to four games above .500 this season, but couldn’t get it done after going 0 for 11 at the plate with runners in scoring position.
Seattle had a great chance to score in the ninth after a one-out triple by Cade Marlowe, but José Caballero whiffed for the second out. J.P. Crawford then walked before Scott McGough struck out All-Star Julio Rodríguez to end the game.
“We’ve been having quality at-bats the past few days,” Crawford said. “Today, we just couldn’t get them in. It was just one of those days.”
Seattle scored twice on sacrifice flies before Tom Murphy’s solo homer to left made it 3-0 in the fourth. Murphy has been on a recent tear, with extra-base hits in four straight games. He also has seven homers in his past 20 games.
But the D-backs quickly clawed back, scoring two runs in the fourth and then tying the game in the fifth on Carson Kelly’s RBI single.
“You’ve got to figure out a way to win these games,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “We were right in there, doing a lot of good things offensively. Just the big hit late — we weren’t able to do it tonight.”
Arizona rookie right-hander Brandon Pfaadt gave up three runs on eight hits over 5 2/3 innings, striking out three and walking one. Pfaadt’s had two encouraging starts in a row after a rough start to his big league career.
“I think it went super well,” Pfaadt said. “We built on our last start. There were a lot of positives to take out of it.”
The D-backs bullpen of Kyle Nelson, Miguel Castro, Kevin Ginkel (4-0), Andrew Chafin and McGough combined to throw 3 1/3 scoreless innings.
Seattle righty Bryan Woo gave up three runs on seven hits over five innings, walking two.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Diamondbacks: 3B Evan Longoria was placed on the 10-day injured list with a strained lower back. IF Josh Rojas was called up from Triple-A to take his spot.
UP NEXT
The three-game series concludes Sunday. The Diamondbacks will send RHP Merrill Kelly (9-4, 3.12 ERA) to the mound, while the Mariners counter with RHP Luis Castillo (6-7, 3.02 ERA)
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