SEATTLE — Cal Raleigh hit his major league-leading 59th and 60th home runs of the season and the Seattle Mariners won their fourth AL West title with a 9-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday night.
Raleigh opened the scoring in the first inning off Tanner Gordon with a shot to the top deck in right field, and capped it in the eighth with a two-out blast to right off Angel Chivilli. Julio Rodríguez and Jorge Polanco also homered off Gordon (6-8) in the first.
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With four games remaining, Raleigh has a chance to break the AL record of 62 set by Yankees star Aaron Judge in 2022. Judge hit 62 home runs in 2022 to break the previous record set by Roger Maris, which stood since 1961.
Raleigh’s latest homers came just four days after he passed Ken Griffey Jr. for the franchise’s single-season home run record with his 57th homer. Griffey hit 56 in both 1997 and 1998.
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Raleigh has also surpassed Mickey Mantle’s previous MLB record of 54 home runs by a switch-hitter that had stood since 1961. He also set the MLB record for homers by a catcher this season, eclipsing the 48 hit by Salvador Perez in 2021. Raleigh is four home runs ahead of Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber and six home runs ahead of Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani.
Luis Castillo (11-8) threw 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball to help the Mariners — the only team in the major that has never reached the World Series — win for the 16th time in 17 games. Castillo didn’t give up at hit until Blaine Crim hit a solo shot in the fourth.
Eugenio Suárez hit his 48th homer in the seventh.
Key moment
Rodríguez hit a no-doubt, solo shot to left field in the first inning immediately after Raleigh’s blast.
Key stat
Raleigh has 11 multi-home run games this season, tied with Aaron Judge (2022), Hank Greenberg (1938) and Sammy Sosa for the MLB record.
Up next
Rockies right-hander Bradley Blalock (2-5, 9.16) was set to start Thursday night. The Mariners had not announced a starter.
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