Diamondbacks 8, Marlins 7: Carroll's Ninth-Inning Homer Inside the Pole

A splitter that stayed fair, and a wild-card race that did not blink

September 14, 2026 - Phoenix - Corbin Carroll pulled a splitter from Jack Ralston over the right-field fence with one out in the ninth. The Associated Press recap said it stayed just inside the foul pole. Two runs. His 21st homer. The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Miami Marlins 8-7 and stayed 2 1/2 games behind San Diego for the last National League wild card.

Roof closed, 76 degrees. First pitch 6:41 p.m. Attendance 19,434. The game lasted 3 hours, 4 minutes. Arizona trailed 7-4 after seven, 7-6 after Jordan Lawlar homered in the eighth, and 7-7 for about as long as it takes a baseball to land in the right-field seats. Carroll has hit .214 since the All-Star break, the AP recap said. Monday was the swing that recap needed a late paragraph for.

The Diamondbacks are 80-71. Miami is 74-77. San Diego won 8-7 in Colorado the same night and stretched its winning streak to eight. Arizona did the only thing a club 2 1/2 back can do on a Monday: win the one in front of it.

Three in the second, back-to-back in the fourth, Burnes through 4 2/3

Sandy Alcantara went five: seven hits, four runs, two walks, six strikeouts, 101 pitches. The AP recap said he has thrown 205 innings, most in the majors. He left a bases-loaded jam in the fifth by striking out Nolan Arenado and getting Tim Tawa on a flyout. That was the outing. It was not the decision.

Javier Sanoja tripled to center in the second, Griffin Conine and Jakob Marsee scoring. Joe Mack hit a sacrifice fly. 3-0 Miami. Corbin Burnes was in his second start since Tommy John surgery on September 8, the AP recap said. He lasted 4 2/3: five hits, five runs, two homers, no walks, four strikeouts, 75 pitches.

Lars Nootbaar homered to right-center in the third, Lawlar scoring. 3-2. Then the fourth, which is the inning Burnes will see when he puts the disc in. Marsee homered to right-center, his 10th. Sanoja homered to left, his ninth. Back to back. 5-2 Miami. Carroll singled Gabriel Moreno and Geraldo Perdomo into a 5-3 game in the fifth, Nootbaar scoring. Arizona had climbed. It had not caught them.

Two in the seventh, Lawlar in the eighth, Fairbanks gone in the ninth

Miami added two in the seventh off Kevin Ginkel. Kyle Stowers doubled Mack home. Xavier Edwards singled Stowers home. 7-4. Tyler Zuber faced the eighth and gave Lawlar a two-run homer to left-center, Tawa scoring, Lawlar's fifth. 7-6. The deficit that had been three was one. Chase Field had a ninth inning worth staying for.

Pete Fairbanks started the ninth and did not finish a batter. He walked Moreno. He threw one pitch to Perdomo. The AP recap said he left with an apparent injury. Ralston (0-1) came in, got Perdomo on a sacrifice bunt, and then hung the splitter. Carroll did not miss it. Tommy Troy scored ahead of him. 8-7. Walk-off. The kind that keeps a wild-card sentence from getting longer.

Juan Morillo (4-4) had already struck out the side in the top of the ninth. Three strikeouts. One walk. 24 pitches. He got the win because Fairbanks could not finish an inning and Ralston could not keep a splitter fair. Baseball will put both of those in the same box score without apology.

Sanoja went 2-for-4 with a homer, a triple, three RBI, and a stolen base. Marsee went 3-for-4 with a homer and a triple. Lawlar went 2-for-4 with the eighth-inning homer, two RBI, and a steal. Nootbaar went 3-for-5 with a homer and two RBI. Carroll finished 2-for-5 with three RBI and the only swing the recap will keep. Miami had 12 hits. Arizona had 11. The club that hit last won.

2 1/2 back, and Soroka on Tuesday

The Padres won again. The Diamondbacks won anyway. That is the shape of a wild-card week: you cannot wait for the club in front of you to lose if you can still win in the ninth. Carroll's average since the break is the number that made the homer louder. The 8-7 is the number that kept Arizona 2 1/2 back instead of 3 1/2.

Alcantara's 205 innings are a season. Burnes' 4 2/3 are a second start after surgery. Neither decided the game. A closer who walked off the mound and a splitter that stayed inside the pole did.

Tuesday is Michael Soroka (8-5, 3.53) against Janson Junk (6-9, 4.54), the AP recap said. Arizona has to keep winning. San Diego has to stop sometime. Monday did not stop San Diego. It did not stop Carroll either.

AthX Engine after the baseball

AthX Engine (our projection and scoring system) put Sanoja at 14 hitting fantasy points, Marsee at 11, and Lawlar at 10. Nootbaar had 9. Carroll had 8. Arizona finished with 12 team FP, tied for fourth on Monday. Miami finished with 5. The walk-off is in the box. The board still ranks the whole night.

Fantasy points measure the night under platform scoring rules. Share prices also move with traders through dynamic pricing. They are related. They are not the same number.

Marketplace

*Sources: ESPN recap and box score, MLB.com Gameday wrap, MLB.com schedule, and AthX Engine scoring. Information only; not financial advice.*