Diamondbacks' bats awaken in time to avoid sweep vs. Nationals

Corbin Carroll and Gabriel Moreno homered, Michael Soroka contained the highest-scoring offense in the majors and the Arizona Diamondbacks avoided a weekend sweep with a 5-1 victory over the Washington Nationals on Sunday in Phoenix.

Carroll hit a solo homer off Cade Cavalli (3-4) in the first and Moreno had two-run shot in the fifth for a 4-1 lead, which turned out to be plenty for Soroka.

Soroka (8-3) gave up one run -- a CJ Abrams homer in the second -- and three hits in seven innings. He struck out six and walked two while making the fifth quality start in his last seven.

Soroka gave up one run or fewer in seven innings for the first time since Aug. 10, 2019, while with Atlanta.

Moreno and Perdomo had two hits for the D-backs, who were outscored 20-2 and had only eight hits in the first two games of the series. They had lost seven of nine.

The Nationals led the majors with 351 runs entering the game. They have lost four of six.

Cavalli gave up four runs and seven hits in five innings, with two strikeouts and one walk. He had not given up more than three earned runs in his previous nine starts.

Carroll hit a 417-foot homer into the pool area in right-center field on Cavalli's sixth pitch for a 1-0 lead, Arizona's first lead in the three-game series.

Abrams hit a 367-foot homer down the right field line leading off the second to tie it at 1-1.

Tommy Troy walked to open the fifth off Cavalli and scored on Moreno's two-out, 368-foot homer into the D-backs' bullpen down the line in left. Pavin Smith's sacrifice fly in the seventh made it 5-1.

The Nationals seldom threatened. They had runners on first and second with one out in the third after a strikeout/passed ball and a walk, but Soroka got out of that with a popup and a strikeout.

Soroka retired 10 straight batters before Curtis Mead doubled with two outs in the sixth. Keibert Ruiz had the Nationals' only other hit, a two-out double in the seventh.

--Field Level Media