Cal Raleigh ties Ken Griffey Jr.’s HR record in Mariners’ win over Pirates

SEATTLE – Within a short span during the first couple of weeks of what’s officially summer, there are several benchmarks that show up in a baseball season.

Teams reach the 81-game mark, the true midway mark of the season. The All-Star break comes a couple of weeks later and is generally considered the midpoint of the season even if more than half the games are already played.

And there’s the Fourth of July, the day when baseball inside big stadiums or Wiffle ball in tiny neighborhoods is part of the festivities. Flags fly, teams wear specialty caps and every major league team is in action.

This July 4 will be long remembered in Seattle as the day the legend of Cal Raleigh’s year checked off another box. On the Fourth of July, Raleigh set a career high in home runs after just 88 games of what’s turning into a historic season.

In the process, he wrote his name into the Mariners’ record book alongside Ken Griffey Jr., reaching a mark that felt untouchable until these magical few months of slugging by Raleigh.

“It’s remarkable. I mean, it feels like he hits a home run every game. That’s what it feels like. And I remember feeling it as a player that Junior just felt like he hit a home run every day,” M’s manager Dan Wilson said. “And again, that’s the consistency that he has shown. It hasn’t been a streak where he’s hit a bunch of home runs in a short amount of time. It’s been kind of 10 per month and it’s continuing here in July.”

Raleigh homered twice on Friday afternoon, lifting the Mariners to a 6-0 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the opener of a three-game weekend series. He has 35 home runs, the most in baseball. It also tied with Griffey for the most by a Mariners player before the All-Star break.

Raleigh’s 34th home run was a majestic shot into the second deck of left field at T-Mobile Park in the first inning, a two-run homer that gave the M’s an early lead against Pittsburgh starter Bailey Falter. It left the bat at 115.2 mph – the hardest-hit ball of his career – and traveled an estimated 433 feet via MLB Statcast. It echoed with the satisfying crack of a 92 mph fastball connecting with a perfectly synced swing.

That homer matched Raleigh’s previous career high, set last season. Consider that last year when Raleigh did get to 34 homers, his final homer came in his 627th plate appearance on the final day of the season.

This season, No. 34 came in his 377th plate appearance.

“It felt good. Took advantage of a mistake. He’s a good arm. Just tried to get on a heater middle of the plate and was able to take advantage,” Raleigh said.

And he wasn’t done. Homer No. 35 wasn’t as majestic and didn’t go as far, but still had the distance to scrape over the wall in left and give the Mariners a 4-0 lead in the sixth inning. While he pulled even with Griffey as the only Mariners to reach 35 homers before the break, he also joined the following company as the only players with at least 35 homers in a team’s first 88 games of a season: Babe Ruth (1921, ’28), Jimmie Foxx (1932), Roger Maris (1961), Reggie Jackson (1969), Griffey (1998), Mark McGwire (1998), Luis Gonzalez (2001) and Barry Bonds (2001).

“I’ve said it … to be mentioned with that name, with somebody who’s just iconic, is a legend, first ballot Hall of Famer, I’m just blessed,” Raleigh said of being alongside Griffey’s name. “Just trying to do the right thing and try to keep it rolling and if I can try to be like that guy, it’s a good guy to look up to.”

Both of Raleigh’s homers came from the right side on Friday giving him 14 as a right-handed batter this season.

Among primary catchers, only Logan O’Hoppe of the Angels and Hunter Goodman of Colorado have more home runs total than Raleigh does from the right side.

“Power is power,” Wilson said.

It was also an important day both in the field and at the plate from Randy Arozarena. In the field, Arozarena saved a pair of runs with a terrific sliding catch down the left-field line to end the first inning. Oneil Cruz sent a pop up down the line that was too deep for Ben Williamson to get back to, but Arozarena was able to close and make the sliding grab, leaving runners stranded at second and third.

“Giving up runs in the first inning, it’s not the end of the world, but it’s obviously not the start that you want. So, yeah, it was an unbelievable catch. Defense was great, all over the place,” M’s starter Bryan Woo said.

Then in the fourth inning, Arozarena continued his hot streak during this homestand hitting his fifth homer in five games. Arozarena’s opposite-field drive tucked inside the right-field foul pole and gave the M’s a 3-0 lead. Four of his five homers during this stretch have been to right or center field.

“I think it proves to him he can wait on it an drive it anywhere and he can drive it out of any part of the ballpark,” Wilson said.

Dylan Moore also snapped his painful slump at the plate with a line drive two-run homer in the seventh inning.

Moore had been 1 for 38 with 24 strikeouts before homering for the first time since May 22 in Houston.

And not to be forgotten was another quality start from Woo, throwing six shutout innings with eight strikeouts and three hits allowed.

Woo has pitched at least six innings in all 17 of his starts this season and ended his outing with a flourish thanks to center fielder Julio Rodríguez and first baseman Donovan Solano teaming for a double play.

With one on and one out in the sixth, Cruz hit a line drive to center that Rodríguez caught and was able to double Nick Gonzales off first base after taking off on the pitch, with Solano making a nice play grabbing the short-hop throw and getting his foot on the bag.

Woo is one of two pitchers in baseball with at least 100 strikeouts, an ERA under 3.00 and less than 20 walks. The other: reigning Cy Young winner and former Seattle U pitcher Tarik Skubal.

Seems like an All-Star worthy resume and perhaps someone that should join be joining Raleigh in Atlanta.

“He’s taken that next step in his career and taken ownership of who he is as a pitcher and how he wants to go about his business,” Raleigh said. “I’m very proud of him and he’s doing great things. I think he should be an All-Star.”