Cal Raleigh’s homer jump starts Mariners they win seventh in row

SEATTLE – The follow-through to finish isn’t smooth and silky like the silhouette and statue of Ken Griffey Jr.

It doesn’t have the short snap and automatic recoil like the start and finish of Kyle Seager’s swing.

No, his is a swing of born of blue-collar work in the cage, brute strength and the sheer will to find a way to hit pitches that he shouldn’t or couldn’t even in the plate appearance before.

When it’s finished, particularly from the left-handed side of the plate, his body is contorted in a twisted lunging position and the bat pointed high in the sky in his right hand.

Aesthetically pleasing it is not.

And yet, Cal Raleigh made it beautiful to Mariners fans in his own way, making it the signature image of his magical walk-off homer on Sept. 30 of last season vs. the A’s that clinched the Mariners first postseason appearance in 21 years.

With a swing and a result eerily similar, Raleigh turned a low-scoring tie game that seemed destined for extra innings into a comfortable 6-1 victory over the Padres on Wednesday night at T-Mobile Park.

The Mariners have won seven games in a row to improve to 62-52 on the season. It was their sixth straight series win.

With the score tied at 1 and Julio Rodriguez on first base following a leadoff walk off Padres reliever Steven Wilson, Raleigh found himself with a 3-2 count. After pulling a low-and-in slider so far foul that it landed almost behind him, Raleigh wasn’t early on another low slider that stayed more in the middle of the plate.

Just like that magical homer that has been replayed thousands of times, Raleigh made that same swing, crushing the pitch high and far to right field. The ball left his bat at 110 mph and hit off the windows of the old Hit it Here Café, measuring 450 feet per Statcast.

Raleigh knew the ball was gone off the bat, leaving that unique follow-through up in the air as he watched it go. As the crowd of 39,546 erupted in celebration, and perhaps experiencing a little déjà vu, Raleigh looked at his teammates in the dugout and then flung his bat as he went to circle the bases.

Irritated and a little rattled at giving up the lead, Wilson hit Teoscar Hernandez in the bill of the helmet on a 0-2 fastball at 94 mph. It had Julio Rodriguez and Eugenio Suarez out of the dugout and jawing at Wilson and the Padres.

After tempers were cooled, the Mariners scored three more runs with Ty France adding an RBI double and Cade Marlowe and Dylan Moore delivering run-scoring singles.

Emerson Hancock’s MLB debut was eventful, something more than useful and everything that manager Scott Servais hoped for when discussing the situation before the game.

“If he can match what Logan (Gilbert) did last night that would be fantastic,” Servais said, joking about his masterful performance vs. the Padres on Tuesday night. “No, we are looking for probably a little bit less than that, but I know he’s excited. Anytime you make your debut with the emotions and everything else you’re feeling, you have to work through that. I’m anxious to see him out there. Expectations? If he can get into the fifth inning, I think we would be happy with that.”

Hancock walked the first batter he faced – Ha-Seung Kim – and then allowed him to steal second and third base with ease. He struck out Fernando Tatis Jr., the second batter he faced. The lone run came moments later when Juan Soto hit a soft comebacker to the mound. Hancock fielded it, but uncertain if he had a play at the plate, he threw to first base for the sure out, allowing Kim to give the Padres a 1-0 lead.

He came up with a highlight reel defensive play in the third inning. Trent Grisham hit a softball ground ball toward second and Hancock dived for the ball, stopping it and flipping it to first baseman Ty France, who smirked at the pitcher’s hustle.

Hancock wouldn’t work a clean inning, allowing one runner to reach in each of them. But he never seemed bothered by the traffic.

His final line: five innings pitched, one run allowed on two hits with three walks and three strikeouts.

He threw 87 pitches, relying heavily on his sinking two-seam fastball and throwing it 51 times. He generated 11 swings and misses, 12 called strikes and was hurt by 20 foul balls. Of the 14 balls in play, only a handful were hit hard.

Compared to the other two rookies in the Mariners’ rotation, who were both his teammates at Double-A Arkansas this season, Hancock’s fell somewhere in the middle.

It wasn’t as dominant as Bryce Miller’s debut vs. the A’s.

But it was better than Bryan Woo’s debut in Texas.

The Mariners provided him with one run of support. Facing Yu Darvish and his plethora of pitches, Seattle scratched out a run in third inning. Marlowe led off with a single, advanced to second on a throwing error by Tatis, moved to third on a ground ball from Josh Rojas and scored on J.P. Crawford’s sac fly that tied the game at 1-1.