Arizona Diamondbacks' Joc Pederson, right, reacts after hitting an RBI double next to Toronto Blue Jays second base Spencer Horwitz in the first inning during a baseball game Saturday, July 13, 2024, in Phoenix.Rick Scuteri/The Associated Press
Corbin Carroll homered twice and had six RBIs, Yilber Diaz pitched six strong innings for his first big-league win and the Arizona Diamondbacks blasted the Toronto Blue Jays 12-1 on Saturday night.
The Diamondbacks roughed up José Berríos (8-7) to win or split their fifth straight series, scoring five runs on seven hits in four innings against the right-hander. On Friday night in the series opener, they rallied from down 4-2 in the eighth inning to beat the Blue Jays 5-4.
Carroll struggled early in the season, but has been rounding back into the form that earned him last season’s NL rookie of the year. He hit a sacrifice fly in the second inning, a three-run homer in the seventh and a two-run shot in the eighth to put Arizona up 12-1.
Eugenio Suárez also hit a two-run homer in the eighth – his third in four games – and the Diamondbacks had 15 hits to win for the 10th time in 14 games.
Diaz (1-0) was sharp all night, keeping the Blue Jays off-balance with a high-90s fastball and hard-breaking knuckle curve. He allowed a run on four hits with two strikeouts and two walks.
The Blue Jays have lost nine of 11.
Diaz had a solid big-league debut, allowing a run on four hits in six innings in a no-decision against Atlanta on Tuesday.
The 23-year-old Venezuelan was sharp again and got the win this time. Alejandro Kirk drove in a run in the second inning on a sacrifice fly, but that was it for Toronto against Diaz.
Berríos faced traffic on the bases in every inning in his third straight shaky start.
Joc Pederson hit a run-scoring double in the first inning and the Diamondbacks scored two more in the second, on the first of José Herrera’s three singles and Carroll’s sacrifice fly.
Ketel Marte hit a run-scoring single off Berríos in the fourth inning and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. made it 5-1 on an infield hit with the bases loaded.
Berríos allowed at least four runs for the third straight start and three of the four batters he walked ended up scoring.