Rookie Adrian Del Castillo hit his first career grand slam and drove in six runs to lead the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 9-6 victory over the Miami Marlins on Monday night.
Del Castillo, a Miami native, homered for the third time since being called up from the minors on August 6. He also had a two-run single and stole his first career base. He is hitting .333 with 14 RBIs in his first nine games with Arizona.
Del Castillo mentioned, “Just trying to keep having fun with these guys and have to keep winning for sure.”
According to STATS, Del Castillo is only the third major league catcher to record at least six RBIs and a stolen base in a single game, following Jerry Grote in 1981 and Johnny Bench in 1974.
Joc Pederson and Jake McCarthy also homered for the Diamondbacks, who have the best record in the league since July 1, despite being swept in a three-game series at Tampa Bay over the weekend.
Arizona starter Brandon Pfaadt gave up four runs and nine hits in 5 1/3 innings. Pfaadt (8-6) struck out four and walked two.
Pfaadt said, “Our stuff wasn’t as sharp as we expected. We got through it and got the team win. That’s all you can really ask for.”
In the third inning, Del Castillo hit a drive that curved foul near the upper-deck stands in right field on his second pitch against Adam Oller. He then connected on a 3-1 fastball and sent it over the center field wall for a 4-0 lead.
Del Castillo commented, “That’s usually not a good thing — home run foul — they say strikeout comes after that. Definitely was not trying to strike out there. Just adjust my sights and thinking bigger part of the field on the next pitches.”
The Diamondbacks managed to load the bases without a hit after Oller (0-1) hit McCarthy and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. with pitches and walked Pavin Smith.
Del Castillo mentioned he lost track of how many family and friends were there, but there was a big cheer after his home run.
Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said, “He had an army of people here supporting him. We were with him in celebration. We needed every bit of his offensive support tonight.”
Nick Fortes hit a home run for Miami in the third inning, but Pederson responded with a solo home run in the fifth, his 20th of the season.
The Marlins closed the gap to 5-4 after Pfaadt was replaced by Connor Norby’s RBI fielder’s choice and Kyle Stowers’ run-scoring single. Kevin Ginkel came in and got a double-play grounder from Fortes to end the inning.
In the seventh inning, Del Castillo drove in two more runs for Arizona with a single, and McCarthy added a two-run home run in the eighth.
Lovullo said, “We’re about creating traffic, giving ourselves opportunities and having the right people in the right spot coming up and slug.”
Oller gave up five runs and three hits in 4 2/3 innings during his Marlins debut. The 29-year-old Oller walked four, hit two batters, and struck out two.
Marlins manager Skip Schumaker commented, “Oller has good stuff, good breaking ball. They only got three hits off him. But when you give up six free passes, that will cost you at the big league level.”
Before the game, Arizona put All-Star second baseman Ketel Marte on the 10-day injured list with a sprained left ankle and recalled Smith from Triple-A Reno.
Miami recalled Norby from Triple-A Jacksonville and designated infielder Emmanuel Rivera for assignment.
