SEATTLE (AP) — 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.
With four games remaining,
Raleigh has a chance to break the AL record of 62 set by Yankees star Aaron Judge in 2022.
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.
Rodríguez hit a no-doubt, solo shot to left field in the first inning immediately after Raleigh’s blast.
Raleigh has 11 multi-home run games this season, tied with Aaron Judge (2022), Hank Greenberg (1938) and Sammy Sosa for the MLB record.
Rockies right-hander Bradley Blalock (2-5, 9.16) was set to start Thursday night. The Mariners had not announced a starter.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
