Cal Raleigh delivered the biggest offensive performance of his season Monday night, hitting three home runs as the Seattle Mariners defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 9-2 and ended Philadelphia’s season best nine game winning streak.
The switch hitting catcher went 3-for-3 with a walk and three home runs, raising his batting average from .159 to .167. It was Raleigh’s first multihomer game of the season and the first three-homer game of his career.
Raleigh did all of his damage from the left side of the plate, pulling each of his three homers into the right field seats. His final home run, a solo shot off Phillies reliever Chase Shugart in the seventh inning, gave him 17 home runs on the season.
Raleigh became just the 13th player in Mariners history to hit three home runs in a game. The only other Seattle catcher to accomplish the feat was current Mariners manager Dan Wilson, who hit three homers in April 1996.
Seattle’s offense got started quickly against Philadelphia ace Zack Wheeler. The Phillies took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Alec Bohm grounded out to drive in a run, but the Mariners responded with five runs in the bottom half.
Julio Rodríguez launched a three-run homer before Raleigh capped the inning with a two-run shot, giving Seattle a 5-1 advantage.
Raleigh struck again in the fifth, opening the inning with a solo homer. Cole Young followed with a home run of his own, chasing Wheeler from the game after just four-plus innings.
Wheeler, who entered the game with a 10-5 record, struggled throughout the night. He surrendered a season-high eight runs on nine hits and five walks while striking out four.
Philadelphia briefly trimmed the deficit when J.T. Realmuto homered off Seattle starter Logan Gilbert in the second inning, making it 5-2. Seattle answered in the third when Rodríguez scored on a bases loaded wild pitch by Wheeler.
Gilbert earned the win, improving to 11-7. He allowed two runs on five hits over five innings, striking out five and walking two. His biggest moment came in the first inning, when he escaped a bases loaded jam by striking out Bryson Stott.
Raleigh’s performance was particularly notable given his struggles at the plate entering Monday’s game. The catcher finished last season as one of baseball’s most dangerous power hitters, leading the majors with 60 home runs and driving in 125 runs while finishing as the runner-up for American League MVP.
On Monday, however, Raleigh provided the spark Seattle needed to halt Philadelphia’s winning streak and produce one of the most memorable offensive games of his career.
The Phillies had entered the matchup riding nine consecutive victories, but Raleigh’s three-homer explosion and a dominant first-inning response from Seattle quickly changed the momentum.
With Raleigh finding his power stroke and Seattle’s lineup producing nine runs, the Mariners closed out a convincing 9-2 victory and handed Philadelphia its first loss after nine straight wins.
