Corbin Carroll was one of the most exciting players in baseball last year in his first full major league season.
The reigning National League Rookie of the Year has been in a season-long rut but displayed signs of a breakout with two homers and a career-best six RBIs in the Arizona Diamondbacks’ 12-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday night.
Carroll will look to follow up on the success Sunday afternoon when Arizona attempts to complete a three-game sweep of the visiting Blue Jays in Phoenix.
Carroll was a season-long force for the Diamondbacks last season when he finished fifth in NL MVP balloting. The All-Star batted .285 with 25 homers, 30 doubles, 10 triples, 76 RBIs and 54 steals while helping Arizona reach the World Series.
But this season has been a struggle. Carroll has a meager .213/.300/.335 slash line even after the huge game. He has just five homers and 32 RBIs.
But at least for one night, Carroll was out of his slump.
“He’s probably been waiting for a night like this,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said.
Carroll certainly doesn’t want to announce that he’s back to his 2023 form, but he said he saw progress on a night in which he hit a three-run homer, a two-run shot and a sacrifice fly.
“I’ve been working really hard,” Carroll said afterward. “To see a couple swings pay off tonight, that’s great. I still think there’s a lot of work to do. It makes it a little easier to keep moving forward when you see some results behind it. I’m going to keep attacking.”
Carroll was one of Arizona’s many hot hitters on Saturday. Jose Herrera recorded three of his team’s 15 hits, and five others contributed two to propel the Diamondbacks to their 10th win in 14 games.
Eugenio Suarez smacked a two-run homer, his fourth long ball in his past seven games.
Toronto tallied just five hits and committed two errors during Saturday’s drubbing, the Blue Jays’ eighth loss over their past 13 games.
“Today was a (poor) game all around,” Toronto manager John Schneider said. “Every aspect of it between baserunning, offense, defense, pitching. It wasn’t a good game.
“But yeah, there’s only one way to look at it. You’ve got to stay upbeat, try to avoid a sweep and end the first half on a good note. But today, it was not our best game.”
The Blue Jays now face Arizona right-hander Zac Gallen (6-5, 3.33 ERA), who hasn’t been sharp in either of his first two July outings.
Gallen has given up eight runs (seven earned) and 11 hits over 9 1/3 innings this month. He received a no-decision against the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 4 and lost to the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday.
Gallen, 28, lost his lone career start against the Blue Jays nearly 12 months ago when he gave up three runs and six hits over five innings.
George Springer is 3-for-9 with one homer off Gallen, while Justin Turner is 3-for-18 with nine strikeouts.
Left-hander Yusei Kikuchi (4-8, 4.00) will start for Toronto. He is winless (0-3) in his past five starts but is coming off a big effort on Tuesday against the San Francisco Giants.
Kikuchi struck out a career-best 13 in 7 1/3 innings while settling for a no-decision. He gave up two runs — both on solo homers — and six hits without issuing a walk.
Kikuchi’s last victory came June 11 when he tossed five shutout innings against the Milwaukee Brewers.
The 33-year-old is 0-1 with a 3.45 ERA in three career starts against the Diamondbacks.
Kevin Newman is 2-for-4 and Christian Walker is 2-for-6 against Kikuchi. Ketel Marte is 0-for-5 with three strikeouts.
–Field Level Media