Mariners’ Cal Raleigh blasts 2 homers, in reach of Barry Bond’s first-half record

DETROIT – The best pitcher in baseball was on the mound pitching at home for the team with the best record in the American League and taking on an emotionally drained group of Mariners that rolled into town at close to 3 a.m. local time after getting excruciatingly swept out of Yankee Stadium.

Of course this is the game these Mariners end up winning. But two home runs from Cal Raleigh will always help the cause.

“It’s about putting that aside. It’s about leaving that in New York and coming out here and playing a new ball game. It’s about 7:10 (p.m.). We talk about that,” M’s manager Dan Wilson said. “And tonight we came out at 7:10 and these guys let it fly. (Luis Castillo) let it fly, and then the offense let it fly and that’s what this game is all about. You have to be able to go on and come back the next day.”

Tired from the late night of travel and facing the machine that has been Tarik Skubal for most of this season, the Mariners pulled off one of their more unlikely wins of the first half of this season, beating the Tigers 12-3 on Friday night before 41,681 at Comerica Park.

It took a little bit of everything to make it happen, but it ultimately came down to three swings. Julio Rodríguez hit a two-run homer off Skubal with two outs in the fifth inning to give the M’s a 4-1 lead.

And then Raleigh’s magical first-half continued by homering in consecutive at-bats in the eighth and ninth innings. His 37th came in the eighth inning and added the name Tyler Holton – a good friend and college teammate of Raleigh – to the list of pitchers that has watched one of his swings leave the yard.

“I’ve caught many of his pitches before. Not saying that’s why,” Raleigh said.

But No. 38 was historic. It was a grand slam in the ninth off Brant Hurter, the pitcher who gave up Raleigh’s first homer on this march toward history on March 31. It gave Raleigh sole possession of second all time for the most homers before the All-Star break, one behind Barry Bonds, who hit 39 in 2001, and the most by an American League player.

Raleigh moved past Chris Davis (2013), Mark McGwire (1998) and Reggie Jackson (1969), all of whom hit 37 before the break. Both homers came from the right side, giving him 16 from that side of the plate.

He has six hits in the past 10 games – all six have been home runs.

“It’s great. I don’t really have a word for it. I guess just very grateful and thankful and trying to stay consistent with what I do and just try to keep it rolling,” Raleigh said.

It’s that consistency which continues to stand out to Wilson. It was 10 homers the first month of the season, 12 in May, 11 in June and now halfway to double digits again with five so far in July.

“Baseball is about consistency. And when you look at what he has done, month to month, it hasn’t been one streak that he’s been on. It’s been a long stretch of just consistent at bats. That says everything,” Wilson said.

Every Raleigh homer at this point is historic, moving up one list or another. But maybe the bigger swing came from Rodríguez because it’s the kind of slugging the M’s desperately need to see more of from their center fielder the second half of the season.

It came on the day Rodríguez decided that resting instead of playing in the All-Star Game was the more prudent choice. His 12th homer of the season, and just his second in the past 41 games, was a 416-foot shot off Skubal on a 1-2 changeup that fluttered into the middle of the strike zone in the fifth inning. Rodríguez’s previous two homers came on June 23 in Minnesota and May 27 at home against Washington.

There were long stretches without that kind of loud contact from the player the M’s need to get hot at the plate.

“It was huge. Kind of gave us that boost there,” Raleigh said.

Before Rodríguez and Raleigh provided the pop, it was Donovan Solano proving to be an unlikely spark. It helped that center fielder Parker Meadows badly misplayed Solano’s line drive in the second inning, but it went in the scorebook as an RBI triple and an early lead off Skubal.

Solano then started the fourth inning with a walk. Ben Williamson’s slow ground out advanced Solano to second and he scored when J.P. Crawford lined a two-out single to left field.

That kept the inning going and four pitches later, Rodríguez was rounding the bases. The bottom four of the M’s order ended up with six of the 11 hits, scored six of the 12 runs and created the opportunity for Raleigh to come back to the plate in the ninth.

Skubal’s final line was five innings, four hits, four runs and his first loss since April 2 against … the Mariners.

Not to be forgotten was a solid start from Luis Castillo pitching into the sixth inning, and Eduard Bazardo and Gabe Speier combined for three scoreless innings of relief while the game was still in question.

Castillo did his part matching Skubal and his final line probably looks even better if not for a debated call by third base umpire D.J. Rayburn in the fourth inning.

“I mean, you’re going up against a Cy Young pitcher. It’s obviously no easy feat, but tried to just work to put the team in a good position,” Castillo said via interpreter Kate Leahy.

Castillo appeared to end the inning with a strikeout of Zach McKinstry as Mitch Garver picked what appeared to be a foul tip before it hit the dirt. But Rayburn, from out past third base, overruled the call of home plate umpire James Hoye and said the foul tip hit the dirt.

McKinstry lined an RBI single on the next pitch and Castillo glared at Rayburn as he walked off the mound even if it appeared to be the right call.

“I was angry for a couple of seconds, but after that I got back to how I normally am and tried to reset so I could help the team and continue a good outing to help them win,” Castillo said.

Castillo found trouble starting the sixth and his night ended after Riley Greene’s RBI triple. Bazardo gave up a deep sacrifice fly to Spencer Torkelson, but otherwise was outstanding in two innings of work with a walk and two strikeouts.

“Up and down the lineup, you can’t really name a guy without seeing a contribution to this game tonight,” Wilson said. “Being able to do that after a tough loss last night, I can’t say enough about what this club has inside.”