SAN FRANCISCO — Baseball’s top home run hitters so far this season are Aaron Judge and Kyle Schwarber, a pair of hulking sluggers whose names are synonymous with majestic blasts. Each has slammed 14 long balls through the season’s first 6 1/2 weeks.
Just behind them is Corbin Carroll, the Diamondbacks‘ 5-foot-10, 165-pound outfielder best known for his blazing speed. After going deep twice off Giants starter Justin Verlander to help the Diamondbacks and right-hander Merrill Kelly come away with a 2-1 victory at Oracle Park on Monday night, May 12, Carroll finds himself just one home run shy of the big boys.
Carroll’s homers accounted for all the Diamondbacks’ offense. Kelly fired seven strong innings, allowing one run on eight hits and no walks while striking out eight. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. made a terrific catch in left field in a key situation in the eighth inning.
And the Diamondbacks came away with a win in the opener of this three-game series, keeping alive a nine-day streak in which they have alternated wins and losses.
Neither of Carroll’s homers was a wall-scraper. He did not take advantage of the dimensions. He did not benefit from the conditions. They were blasts the likes of which any powerful slugger would be proud.
The first was an opposite-field shot to left-center field in the third inning, the kind of homer that is not always easy even for right-handed hitters in this ballpark. With the count 2-1, he crushed a 93.7 mph fastball an estimated 381 feet. It left his bat at 103 mph.
The second was even more impressive. With the count 1-1 in the fifth, Carroll got what looked like a relatively sharp curveball at the bottom of the zone and unloaded on it, driving it easily over the fence just to the right of center field. Exit velocity: 108.8 mph. Distance: 419 feet.
“Those were impressive at-bats,” Verlander said. “He’s obviously a great player having a great season, so, yeah, great swings.”
Said Carroll: “I’m trying to hit a bunch of balls hard on a line. That’s kind of where I’ve been judging myself. I feel like when I’m doing that a bunch, the homers kind of follow. I’m not trying to get too caught up in hitting the ball out of the ballpark. For me, that leads to some easy outs.”
Even teammates who have seen Carroll take these sorts of swings before still could not help but shake their heads in appreciation.
“He’s not that big guy, not that big, physical guy,” Diamondbacks third baseman Eugenio Suarez said. “When you see him, you don’t think he’s going to have that power. But it’s very impressive, very special, when you see him destroy a baseball like that.”
Said Kelly: “For him, in stature, he doesn’t look big and strong, but obviously the guys who see him every day, when he puts the barrel on the ball, it’s incredible how the ball goes. Oppo in any park is tough, but especially here when the wind is swirling, to put a ball oppo is impressive. He just continues to impress day in and day out.”
Carroll has always surprised teammates with his power, but he is tapping into it at new levels this year. This season, he has already connected for the two hardest-hit balls of his career — 115.8 mph and 115.7 mph — and after hitting 10 balls at least 110 mph last year, he already has nine such balls this season.
“It’s not only homers, but everything he hits I feel like he hits it so hard,” Suarez said. “I think for me he’s one of the strongest guys I’ve ever seen. It’s not just when he swings hard, it’s the way he runs, too.
“You see the power in him. It’s very impressive to see it. He’s fun to watch. For real. For me, he’s one of the best. I think he’s a superstar.”
Kelly was borderline dominant for much of the night. He credited a mechanical tweak for helping him unlock what he called his best pure stuff of the season, including a change-up that induced nine whiffs.
Just as encouraging was the fact that he again shouldered a heavy workload without dealing with any leg cramps, the result, he hopes, of staying more active between innings to keep his body from tightening up. He has worked at least into the seventh inning in back-to-back outings since changing his mid-inning routine.
Kelly called it “obviously a huge positive for me.”
“Mentally, probably, more than anything,” he said. “To be able to get through that and not feel anything makes me feel like we can take that momentum and keep running with it.”
The game might have gone sideways for the Diamondbacks in the eighth were it not for Gurriel. With a runner on first and lefty Jalen Beeks on for the eighth, the Giants’ Heliot Ramos smoked a hard liner to left. Gurriel retreated on the ball, which left Ramos’ bat at 110.8 mph, then made a jumping grab just in front of the wall, somersaulting backward as he hit the ground.
Gurriel said the ball was hit at such a low angle it made for a tricky read.
“Because they’re so low, they can either start to sink or rise,” he said, speaking through interpreter Alex Arpiza. “That’s why you have to wait it out a little bit.”
As for his tumble, he smiled and said, “That wasn’t in the plans, but I feel good.”
Right-hander Shelby Miller retired the side in order in the ninth to pick up his second save.
Coach Jeff Banister taken to hospital
Diamondbacks bench coach Jeff Banister was taken to a local hospital on Monday afternoon, May 12, for “precautionary observation,” manager Torey Lovullo said.
“He came to the ballpark and wasn’t feeling very good today,” Lovullo said. “You could tell something was off and he was trying to gut it out. This was something we all identified was something he needed to step away and go get observed.”
Lovullo said hitting coach Joe Mather will step in as the bench coach for the series opener against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park.
“Joe has a lot of games managed in the minor leagues,” Lovullo said. “He has a great clock and great baseball instincts.”
Justin Martinez set for live session
Reliever Justin Martinez threw what Diamondbacks coaches described as an encouraging side session on Sunday, May 11, at Chase Field, and will face hitters in live batting practice on Wednesday, May 14, at Salt River Fields.
“(He looked) great,” pitching coach Brian Kaplan said. “He looked good. Really strong.”
Before landing on the injured list with right shoulder inflammation on May 1, Martinez had seen his usual triple-digit fastball velocity dip into the mid-90s. Prior to that, he dealt with what the club initially described as “shoulder fatigue.”
“The confidence was there,” Kaplan said of the bullpen session. “His shoulder just felt weird (a couple weeks ago), felt tired. He’s kind of been a workhorse in the very limited time I’ve known him, and listening to some of those guys talk, I think he’s kind of used to always feeling 100 percent. So when he didn’t, I think it definitely caught him off guard. He seemed to kind of get through that hurdle.”
Kaplan described April as a challenging month for most pitchers anyway, adding that the Diamondbacks’ early-season travel schedule might have contributed, as well.
“We’re not used to taking three East Coast swings in five weeks,” Kaplan said. “I’m not giving guys excuses, but you change weather, change time zones, your sleep is weird — it definitely can affect the body.”
Kaplan said Martinez was throwing with “normal side velocity” on May 11, intimating that he’s sitting in the mid-90s with his fastball.
“Everything that he typically does in a touch-and-feel, which is in the 1 percentile of most people in the world,” Kaplan said. “He’s going to throw a live on Wednesday at Salt River. Everything points to that kind of being right where he needs to be and we’ll go from there.”
Meanwhile, Lovullo said left-hander A.J. Puk likely will begin playing catch later this week or early next week.
Coming up
May 13: At San Francisco, 6:45 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Brandon Pfaadt (6-2, 3.28) vs. Giants LHP Robbie Ray (5-0, 2.84).
May 14: At San Francisco, 12:45 p.m., Diamondbacks LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (1-3, 6.86) vs. Giants RHP Jordan Hicks (1-4, 5.82).
May 15: Off.
May 16: At Chase Field, 6:40 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Corbin Burnes (2-1, 2.95) vs. Rockies RHP Ryan Feltner (0-2, 4.75).
(This story was updated to add new information.)