MILWAUKEE — Corbin Carroll and the Arizona Diamondbacks are one resilient bunch. Staring at an early deficit against Corbin Burnes, they slugged their way to the front of their NL Wild Card Series.
Carroll and Ketel Marte homered on back-to-back pitches and Gabriel Moreno also went deep, sending the Diamondbacks to a 6-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night in the opener of their best-of-three series.
Arizona is making the franchise’s first playoff appearance since 2017, and it had been 0-14 in postseason games when trailing by at least three runs. But this is a tested group of Diamondbacks who had to push all the way to the final days of the season to secure an NL wild card.
So that 3-0 hole with Burnes on the mound for the Brewers was just another challenge that had to be overcome.
“He is a really good pitcher,” said Carroll, who added another memorable performance to his breakout rookie season. “We wanted to get him out of there. I thought we took really patient at-bats and got rewarded with that patience by getting some balls in the middle of the plate that we were able to put some good swings on.”
The rally put Arizona in a prime position to advance. Game 2 is Wednesday, and the Diamondbacks have All-Star Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly lined up after rookie Brandon Pfaadt lasted just 2 2/3 innings in the opener.
Arizona’s comeback began when Carroll followed Geraldo Perdomo’s one-out single in the third with a 444-foot drive into the second deck of the stands in right-center. On Burnes’ next pitch, Marte sent a cutter over the right-field wall to tie the game.
Moreno put the Diamondbacks in front by homering for the first time since Sept. 2. Moreno’s 425-foot shot in the fourth came on a 2-2 slider.
Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo felt Carroll’s homer was a turning point.
“I think at that point, we all exhaled,” Lovullo said, “and I think we collectively got our feet underneath us and felt very good about the direction in which we were going.”
Third baseman Evan Longoria protected Arizona’s 4-3 lead in the fifth by robbing Tyrone Taylor of a bases-loaded hit and turning it into an inning-ending double play.