Corbin Carroll’s ninth-inning homer finishes Diamondbacks’ 8-7 comeback over Marlins

Miami built the lead twice

Miami’s best work came in clean, damaging bursts. Javier Sanoja opened the scoring in the second with a triple to center that brought home Griffin Conine and Jakob Marsee, and Joe Mack followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0. It was the kind of inning that made the Marlins look settled: a team not just collecting hits, but stacking the right ones together.

Arizona’s reply in the third was stranger and more revealing. Pavin Smith stole home while Jordan Lawlar stole second, and Lawlar wound up safe at third on Otto Lopez’s throwing error. That chopped the deficit to two without a ball leaving the park. Lars Nootbaar took care of the rest soon after, driving a two-run homer to right-center to wipe out the entire lead at 3-3.

The Marlins answered that punch too. Marsee homered to right-center in the fourth, Sanoja followed with a solo shot to left, and Miami had its cushion back at 5-3. Carroll’s RBI single in the fifth trimmed it to 5-4, but the visitors seemed to take command in the seventh when Kyle Stowers doubled home Mack and Xavier Edwards singled in Stowers for a 7-4 advantage. Against Corbin Burnes, that was enough damage; against the Diamondbacks as a whole, it turned out not to be enough.

Arizona saved its loudest swings for the finish

The game stayed within reach because Arizona’s bullpen did what the rotation could not. Burnes lasted 4 2/3 innings and was charged with five runs, including the back-to-back solo homers in the fourth. But Jonathan Loaisiga, Justin Martinez and Juan Morillo combined for 3 1/3 scoreless innings and six strikeouts, keeping the score from drifting any farther while the lineup waited for one more opening.

Lawlar created that opening in the eighth, hammering a two-run homer to left-center that cut Miami’s lead to 7-6. An inning later, Carroll ended it. His two-run drive to right, scored with Tommy Troy coming home ahead of him, turned a one-run deficit into an 8-7 Diamondbacks win. That final swing completed a comeback built by Arizona’s most productive bats: Nootbaar went 3-for-5 with a homer and two RBI, Lawlar finished 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI, and Carroll drove in three.

Our take: this was not a flawless offensive performance from Arizona, but it was a stubborn one. The Diamondbacks finished with 11 hits, four walks, a hit batter and 170 pitches seen across 41 plate appearances. Even with 10 strikeouts, that volume of traffic gave their power a chance to matter late. When the last four Arizona runs came on Lawlar’s and Carroll’s homers, the lesson was simple enough: keep enough men moving onto base, and one swing can repair a lot of earlier waste.

What Miami will carry out of this one

There is a cruel kind of baseball loss where almost everything a team hoped to do at the plate actually happens. Miami scored seven runs on 12 hits, got a triple and a homer from Sanoja, a three-hit night and a homer from Marsee, plus run-producing hits from Stowers and Edwards. That should usually be a winning recipe. The problem was that the Marlins also struck out 13 times, walked only twice and left 13 on base, which meant they never quite built the margin their night at the plate suggested was available.

The cleaner contrast came on the run-prevention side. Arizona made no errors; Miami made two, and one of them directly helped Arizona onto the board in the third when Lopez’s throwing error turned an aggressive double steal into a bigger opening. Sandy Alcantara gave the Marlins five innings and allowed four runs, a line that left the game hanging in the balance rather than lost. But over the game’s last four outs, Tyler Zuber, Pete Fairbanks and Jack Ralston surrendered four runs, two walks and two homers. Once Lawlar cut it to one, Miami no longer had room for another mistake.

Our take: the Marlins do not need a dramatic rethink after producing seven runs, but they do need a sharper finish. The evidence is all in this box score. One Arizona run came from pressure applied to Miami’s defense, and the final two innings were decided by two two-run homers, one of them after a walk had already extended the threat. For a club that had control at 7-4, that is the painful part — not a lack of offense, but the inability to close a game that had already been won once in spirit and still had to be won in fact.

Scoring moments

1. 2nd Inning

   Sanoja tripled to center, Conine scored and Marsee scored.

2. 2nd Inning

   Mack hit sacrifice fly to left, Sanoja scored.

3. 3rd Inning

   Smith stole home, Lawlar stole second, Lawlar safe at third on throwing error by shortstop Lopez.

4. 3rd Inning

   Smith stole home, Lawlar stole second, Lawlar safe at third on throwing error by shortstop Lopez.

5. 3rd Inning

   Nootbaar homered to right center (391 feet), Lawlar scored.

6. 4th Inning

   Marsee homered to right center (390 feet).

7. 4th Inning

   Sanoja homered to left (397 feet).

8. 5th Inning

   Carroll singled to left, Nootbaar scored, Perdomo to second, Moreno to third.

9. 7th Inning

   Stowers doubled to center, Mack scored.

10. 7th Inning

    Edwards singled to right, Stowers scored.

11. 8th Inning

    Lawlar homered to left center (412 feet), Tawa scored.

12. 9th Inning

    Carroll homered to right (423 feet), Troy scored.