Cal Raleigh joins nifty 50 home-run club, Mariners hold off Padres
SEATTLE – The unusually warm and sticky Monday evening at T-Mobile Park started with Cal Raleigh doing Cal Raleigh things in this magical season, smashing his 50th homer before most fans could order their first hot dog, sip their first beverage or even get to their seats.
Save for one inning where Bryce Miller gave up three homers, which proved to be a minor nuisance to overcome, the Mariners night would only get better.
A five-run fourth inning that featured two-run doubles from Jorge Polanco and Julio Rodriguez turned back-and-forth game between the two “natural” rivals into a 9-6 victory for Seattle.
The Mariners (71-61) moved to 1.5 games back of the American League West-leading Astros. Houston was off on Monday and opens a three-game series at home against the worst team in baseball – the Colorado Rockies – on Tuesday.
With a three-game series sweep in San Diego, the Mariners have now won four straight games against the Padres, who came into the game tied with the Dodgers for the lead in the National League West.
The win also meant that the Mariners won the season series and became the winners of the first “Vedder Cup,” a promotional event between the two organizations in honor of Eddie Vedder, the lead singer of Pearl Jam. Seattle was awarded with a “trophy” – a customized 1963 Telecaster model that Vedder plays on stage with his autograph.
Raleigh’s 50th homer in the first inning – a preposterous blast into the upper deck – set an early tone. He’d tied and then broke the record for most home runs in a season by a catcher on Sunday. Now he joined Ken Griffey Jr. as the only Mariners player to hit 50 homers in a season. Griffey hit 56 homers in 1997 and 1998.
In his second start back after a lengthy stint on the injured list, Miller pitched five innings, allowing four runs on six hits with a walk and four strikeouts to improve to 3-5 on the season.
All of Miller’s runs allowed came in the second inning. He gave up a solo homer to Gavin Sheets on a knuckle curve on the bottom edge of the strike zone. With two outs, Jake Cronenworth ambushed a first-pitch fastball on the inside corner of the strike zone, pulling it over the wall in right field.
But perhaps the biggest mistake of the inning was when Miller walked No. 9 hitter Freddy Fermin – a light-hitting catcher – to bring Fernando Tatis Jr. to the plate. Miller fell behind 2-0 and then left a slider in the middle of the plate. Tatis put the mistake over the wall in center for a 4-1 Padres lead.
To Miller’s credit, he allowed just two more base runners over the next five innings.
Meanwhile the Mariners offense, took a chunk out of the three-run deficit immediately when Jorge Polanco hit a low line drive just over the left field wall and into Edgar’s Cantina for a two-run homer.
Seattle tied the game in the bottom of the fourth. But it seemed almost disappointing. They loaded the bases with no outs and only came across with one run scoring when J.P. Crawford grounded into a double play.
Would that failure to capitalize with more runs have later consequences? Nope.
The Mariners broke it open in the fifth with two outs and runners on first and second. Josh Naylor gave them the lead with a crisp single to left, scoring Julio Rodriguez. Mitch Garver worked a walk to load the bases. Batting left-handed for the first-time in the game, Polanco ripped a ball down the first baseline for a double. Rodriguez followed with a looping fly ball to right field that Tatis couldn’t grab despite a sliding effort to make it 9-4.