Soroka's 10 K's -- and immaculate inning -- pave way to win in home opener

PHOENIX -- After a frustrating three games in Los Angeles to open the season, Monday was a much-needed injection of good feelings (and winning) for the Diamondbacks.

A sellout crowd greeted the Diamondbacks on a festive night that featured a triple and homer from Corbin Carroll and a stellar Arizona debut for Michael Soroka, who recorded the fourth immaculate inning in franchise history.

And while things did get a little too interesting, the end result was all that mattered -- a 9-6 win over the Tigers in the home opener at Chase Field.

The Diamondbacks wasted little time jumping on Justin Verlander, spoiling the future Hall of Famer's return to the Tigers after eight years pitching for the Astros, Mets and Giants. Arizona scored a pair of runs in the first, with Carroll, who led the Majors in triples last year, tripling home a run and scoring one out later.

Carroll then hit a two-out, three-run homer in the second as the Diamondbacks took a commanding 5-0 lead.

“It felt really good, especially after a tough L.A. series, just to come out and put it on them early,” Carroll said. “It was just what we needed.”

Soroka, who the Diamondbacks signed in December to a one-year contract, also gave Arizona what it needed, allowing four hits and a walk while matching his career high with 10 strikeouts over five innings.

"We had a hard time with spin and a hard time with his comeback sinker against lefties,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “So it's a bad combo when you're facing him and he's got the glove-side lane going, the spin tonight we didn't really have great swings at, and obviously we had a bunch of punchouts. Tough night for us when we punch out a couple times an inning for the majority of his innings."

The 10 strikeouts was the most for an Arizona pitcher in their debut, surpassing Randy Johnson’s nine on April 5, 1999 against the Dodgers.

“Very, very impressed,” Carroll said of Soroka. “I remember facing [him] last year and thinking, ‘That’s a pretty good breaking ball.’ And I thought he pitched really well off that tonight, then did a good job of just filling up the zone and using all his pitches.”

• Immaculate innings: 3 strikeouts on 9 pitches

Soroka finished his outing on a high note, recording an immaculate fifth inning -- meaning he threw nine pitches and struck out all three batters. Wade Miley was the last Arizona pitcher to accomplish the feat in 2012, with Byun-Hyun Kim (2002) and Johnson (2001) being the others.

Soroka realized he had a shot at the immaculate inning with one strike remaining to get on Gleyber Torres.

“It was pretty special,” Soroka said. “I think I’ve talked to you guys about not putting too much stock in results but I think that's one that's worth celebrating. Gleyber is a good hitter, he's quite passive, too. So I wanted to make sure it was something in the zone and just just give myself a chance to get it done right there. So pretty cool. I tried to play it off, but started smiling on the field.”

Things got a little dicey for the Diamondbacks late, as the bullpen struggled in the seventh. Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo had to use three relievers to get through the inning with Joe Ross allowing five hits and a walk and Ryan Thompson failing to record an out while walking two and giving up a hit.

All told, the Tigers scored six runs in the inning to cut the Arizona lead to 8-6 before Juan Morillo retired Parker Meadows with two on to end the inning.

“I was thinking the same thing everybody in the stadium was,” Lovullo said of his nerves that inning. “I was just grateful that Juan Morillo came in there and just dialed it up and got the job done, but we gotta be better.”

That is true, but at least for this night it was enough to get the win and send a sellout crowd home happy.