Mariners rout Red Sox behind Cal Raleigh’s grand slam, Bryan Woo’s gem
SEATTLE – Bryan Woo is getting spoiled.
Mariners fans are, too.
Cal Raleigh’s historic season continued Tuesday night with his second grand slam of the season to provide Woo a well of support in the Mariners’ 8-0 romp of the Boston Red Sox at T-Mobile Park.
Woo was also the Mariners’ starting pitcher when Raleigh hit his first grand slam of the season, at Texas on May 2, in a 13-1 thumping of the Rangers.
Raleigh’s fourth career grand slam capped a five-run second inning against Boston’s Walker Buehler and propelled the M’s catcher into the MLB home run lead with 27, one ahead of the Yankees’ Aaron Judge.
Raleigh finished a triple shy of the cycle. He had six RBIs on the day, giving him 60 on the season, moving him into a tie with Judge for the American League lead.
The Raleigh-Woo combo proved fruitful again for the Mariners (37-35), who won their fourth game in five days to secure a winning homestand.
They’ll go for the series win Wednesday afternoon against Boston ace Garrett Crochet. The M’s will turn to Luis Castillo.
Continuing his emergence as a staff ace, Woo has thrown at least six innings in all 14 of his starts this season.
Woo allowed one hit over seven shutout innings, with two walks, one hit batter and six strikeouts. He lowered his ERA to 3.12.
Woo became the first M’s pitcher to throw at least six innings in 14 consecutive starts since Felix Hernandez in 2014 and the first to open a season with 14 such consecutive starts since Randy Johnson in 1993.
Elite company, indeed.
Red Sox rookie Marcelo Mayer had Boston’s only hit off Woo to lead off the fifth inning.
Mariners rookie Cole Young just missed his first big-league home run to drive in the first run off Buehler in the second inning.
That scored Rowdy Tellez, who had singled and (surprise!) stole second base for just his fifth career steal in 726 games. Ben Williamson was thrown out at the plate trying to score from first.
J.P. Crawford and Julio Rodriguez worked back-to-back walks against Buehler, who then threw a first-pitch changeup that Raleigh ambushed and sent soaring out to right field.
That gave the M’s a 5-0 lead.
They added three more runs in the third inning on Raleigh’s two-run double down the right-field line.
Raleigh then stole third base and scored on Jorge Polanco’s sacrifice fly.