Arizona Diamondbacks left fielder Corbin Carroll, the National League Rookie of the Year front-runner, got his pound of flesh before it was all over.
But it was the Cincinnati Reds’ cavalcade of rookies who owned the weekend in one of the biggest rookie showcase series in MLB this season — including a 7-3 victory Sunday that began with rookie Elly De La Cruz’s 407-foot home run in the first and finished with rookie Spencer Steer and Christian Encarnacion-Strand driving in all three Reds runs in a big eighth.
And then there was Reds rookie Matt McLain’s two-hit game Sunday on the heels of a combined 3-for-7 performance Friday and Saturday that included a homer in each of those victories — one of three consecutive by the Reds on Saturday, his other homer a grand slam on Friday.