Diamondbacks Smother Orioles with Power and Pitching

The D-backs' arms and bats showed out for a series win over Baltimore.

Arizona Diamondbacks Corbin Carroll (7) celebrates his double as Baltimore Orioles Jackson Holliday (7) looks on at Chase Field on April 7, 2025. / Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Arizona Diamondbacks took a dominant win over the Baltimore Orioles by a score of 9-0. Arizona's bats and arms were both exceptional.

Right-hander Brandon Pfaadt showcased his best outing of the season, delivering six scoreless innings. He allowed four hits and two walks, collecting three punchouts.

He set down the first inning in order on just 10 pitches. He surrendered a single to Tyler O'Neill to open the second inning, but forced a pair of ground balls for a force out at second base and an inning-ending double play. That inning took just 11 pitches.

It looked like trouble in the fourth, as Pfaadt opened the inning with back-to-back walks. With one out, he threw a wild pitch, advancing the runners, but catcher Jose Herrera made a heads-up play, firing a strike to second base to catch O'Hearn for the second out. Pfaadt ended the threat with a flyout to left field.

After a 1-2-3 fifth, Pfaadt surrendered a pair of one-out singles in the sixth. But he dialed up another ground ball double play to finish without a blemish on his line.

"He came out and got us through that first inning," said Torey Lovullo postgame. "He went out and executed a good game plan for six innings and really set it up for our offense to go out and do their job."

Pfaadt remained team-focused in his postgame comments.

"I think it was a good overall team win. I think when the bats come out firing like they did, it's easier for us on our side to pitch and play defense, and that's what happened," Pfaadt told reporters, including Diamondbacks On SI's Jack Sommers.

"But I felt good. I felt like I was committing to pitches, hit a weird spot there with the two walks in a row. But [Herrera] got me back on track, and we were able to just keep attacking and keeping control of the game."

Arizona's offense got off to a quick start, with a pair of singles by Corbin Carroll and Geraldo Perdomo in the first. Josh Naylor hit a sacrifice fly to score Carroll and get the D-backs an early lead.

In the third, Carroll came up to the plate again, and for the fifth time this season launched a home run into the stands, 106.2 MPH off the bat and 413 feet deep. After going 2-for-4 on Wednesday, Carroll raised his slash to .320/.424/.740 (1.164 OPS) so far this season, a far cry from 2024's struggles.

"He continues to stay hot and just not miss his pitch. ... He works as hard as anybody. He's not sitting still. He doesn't waste days. He's going to get better every single day. That's what we like in all of our players," Lovullo said.

But Arizona's high-octane offense showed its face again in the fifth. Ironically, it began with Carroll recording his first out — a 100 MPH grounder to first base. Perdomo followed with a single.

Then, Pavin Smith crushed his first home run of the season, a deep shot into the Chase Field pool, doubling the lead. Naylor then delivered his first homer as a Diamondback, going back-to-back for a 5-0 figure.

The D-backs weren't done there, however. Alek Thomas was hit by a pitch, and Jake McCarthy ended his lengthy hitless streak to open the season. After going 0-for-24 - the longest hitless streak in franchise history to open a season - McCarthy laced a double to left field off left-hand reliever Cionel Pérez to put runners at second and third.

"It was a good moment for all of us," said Lovullo. "Jake is grinding. He's got a great mentality every single day. ... He doesn't let up. For him to finally have that success was a big moment in the dugout. We all shared it with him. You can see it's probably quite a relief for him. He comes out every day, whether he's doing well or not. He's a great teammate."

"He doesn't have to look up at the scoreboard to see the three zeroes up there. He's on his way now."

With two outs, Tim Tawa, who had been hitless since his first MLB at-bat, took a controlled swing, lining a two-run single to left and giving Arizona a seven-run cushion.

The onslaught continued in the ninth. With two outs, Perdomo launched his second homer of the season. Smith got into another, sending it off the wall for a double; he was brought home by a Naylor RBI single.

In all, the D-backs' top four batters went a collective 11-for-17 with 11 RBI and four homers. Perdomo, Naylor and Smith finished with three hits apiece.

The D-backs' relief corp held up their end of the deal, as Jalen Beeks pitched an efficient scoreless pair of baserunner-free innings on 23 pitches. Bryce Jarvis closed the game with a 1-2-3 ninth.

"Things have lingered for five to seven games, and the fact that we finally put together some really good offensive approaches with some good pitching, some solid base running, and the defense played well today, this is D-back baseball. This is who we are," Lovullo said.

"So we want to continue to go out there and do what we do best and play this type of game. If we do, we're going to win a lot of them."