Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll obliterated a high fastball from Miami Marlins reliever George Soriano 434 feet for a grand slam in a 10-4 win on Tuesday, MLB’s annual Jackie Robinson Day celebration.
The meteor that came off his bat at 108 mph gave the Diamondbacks a commanding 10-1 lead in the sixth inning. In his previous at-bat, Carroll extended his on-base streak to start the year at 17 games with an RBI double in the second inning.
Carroll has six home runs and 14 extra-base hits in 17 games, and his slugging percentage climbed to .735. He entered play on Tuesday fourth in MLB with a .697 slug. Last year, Aaron Judge led all of baseball at .701.
Carroll also has a 99th percentile exit velocity of 96.3 mph, the hardest he’s consistently hit baseballs as a big leaguer. Last year, pitchers found success pitching him up in the zone, and he’s turned that weakness into a strength.
CORBIN CARROLL GRAND SLAM 😤 pic.twitter.com/eKW4VdNseI
— MLB (@MLB) April 16, 2025
The National League MVP is not handed out in April, but if it were, Carroll would be atop the list of candidates.
And he was far from the only Diamondbacks hitter to get ahold of one on Tuesday.
A two-out rally began with some chaos ball from Alek Thomas in the second inning, as he lined a sweeper into right field for a single off Miami starter Connor Gillispie.
Thomas stole second and skipped over to third as the throw from catcher Liam Hicks got away. Nine-hole hitter Garrett Hampson drew a walk to flip the lineup for Carroll, who slammed a double 105.7 mph off the bat into right field.
That set up team RBIs leader Geraldo Perdomo, who turned on a 2-2 cutter on the inside edge and blasted it to the second deck in right field.
Perdomo has three home runs already, matching his total from a year ago and halfway to his career high of six. Like Carroll, Perdomo is hitting the ball harder than we’ve seen in his major league career.
Certified Slugger Boy pic.twitter.com/xkjDfbXQDp
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) April 15, 2025
He leads all MLB shortstops with a .964 OPS and .437 on-base clip. He’s been an on-base machine.
Perdomo struck out in the first inning, only notable because it ended a streak of 43 plate appearances without a K. It was the longest such streak by a Diamondbacks player since Ender Inciarte in 2015 (44), per the club.
Arizona tacked on with a Josh Naylor solo shot in the third inning, his second homer with the club, to give Arizona a 5-1 lead.
D-backs first baseman Josh Naylor is wearing custom Jackie Robinson Jordan 11 cleats tonight 💯 pic.twitter.com/LN3tESzkIi
— MLB (@MLB) April 16, 2025
Merrill Kelly keeps Diamondbacks’ starting pitcher streak alive
D-backs starter Merrill Kelly stranded a couple runners in the first inning and then gave up a run in the second. From there, he was darn-near perfect. Kelly retired the final 11 batters he faced and 15 of 16.
He struck out nine Marlins to set a season high, his most punch outs since 2023. He only walked one batter and allowed three hits.
Kelly had one blowup outing at Yankee Stadium this year, but in his other three appearances, he’s worked a 2.08 ERA in 17.1 innings.
His performance also extended Arizona’s streak of quality starts to six straight games. That is Arizona’s longest quality starts streak since 2017.
Diamondbacks next game
The Diamondbacks (10-7) have won three straight ballgames and continue their series in Miami on Wednesday at 3:40 p.m. Brandon Pfaadt will start for the D-backs against Miami right-hander Max Meyer.
The game will air on 98.7 and the Arizona Sports app.
