Raleigh sets Mariners home run mark in 5-3 win

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - APRIL 11: Cal Raleigh #29 of the Seattle Mariners reacts after his two run home run during the eighth inning against the Texas Rangers at T-Mobile Park on April 11, 2025 in Seattle, Washington. (Steph Chambers / Getty Images)

SEATTLE - Cal Raleigh's two-run blast in the eighth inning gave him the most home runs in Seattle Mariners history by a catcher and propelled the team to a 5-3 win over the Texas Rangers on Friday night.

Raleigh's homer to right field off Rangers reliever Chris Martin moved him past Mike Zunino for the most home runs by a catcher for the Mariners with 96 for his career. It also gave the team a two-run lead that Andrés Muñoz closed out for his fifth save of the year.

"Congratulations to Cal on another achievement that, you know, it's just one of many that he's going to have. And you know, doing it with style tonight, breaking the franchise record and breaking a tie," manager Dan Wilson said. "He's hit so many big home runs for us already. And you know, that was a big one tonight. And that's really good to see."

Raleigh's homer was the third of the night off Texas pitching as Jorge Polanco and Rowdy Tellez each peppered the right field seats with raining baseballs.

Raleigh's also came with a new "torpedo" bat in his hands after the team got a shipment of bats in on Friday. The bats – which have more mass in the center of the sweet spot on the barrel – have been a bit of a sensation so far this season after the New York Yankees used the models in clubbing multiple home runs in a series against the Milwaukee Brewers.

"With all the science and stuff like that and everybody trying to get an edge, you know, there's going to be something like this next year and the year after, and guys are going to keep trying (new things)," Raleigh said.

Raleigh had tried out the bat before the game from each side of the plate and told reporters he needed more time to test them out. But by the eighth inning, Raleigh decided to put the bat in play and used one to hammer the game-winning blast.

"You know how baseball players are. We aren't very patient," Raleigh said. "It felt good. The swing felt good. I'm like I've got them, I might as well try them. I put a good swing on it."

Nagging injuries have kept Polanco out of the lineup at times over the last week, particularly against left-handed pitching due to a strained muscle in his side. But when he has been in the lineup, Polanco has continued to be the team's hottest hitter.

Polanco turned on a 1-1 fastball from Texas starter Jacob deGrom and laced a line-drive home run over the right field wall for an early 1-0 lead. Polanco went 3-for-4 as his batting average for the season climbed to .419 with 13 hits in 31 at-bats for the year.

"He's been a huge spark plug for us, you know, especially with a couple of injuries going down," Raleigh said of Polanco. "And he's having great at-bats. You know, you're seeing it. He's using the big part of the field and squaring up balls, and he's really short and compact to the ball is kind of what I see right now. You know, he's not missing this pitch. And you know, he's been huge for us so far."

Tellez followed in the second inning with a near carbon copy homer to right field for a 2-0 Mariners lead and Tellez's first home run in Seattle.

Bryce Miller worked out of a bases loaded jam in the first inning for Seattle, though Texas was effective in running up his pitch count.

"Never ideal to have a 30- pitch first inning, but we got through it, and I think limited hard contact pretty well today," Miller said. "First hit was on a bunt, the second one was an executed sinker in that floated over first. Too many walks. I'm walking with too many people right now,"

Adolis García walked to lead-off the fourth inning and stole second base to put pressure on Miller. After a strikeout of Joc Pederson, Josh Jung singled to right field to drive in García to get Texas on the board.

"Anytime you have a lead-off walk, it always comes back to bite you. So that's on me," Miller said. But, yeah, I felt like I grinded. Getting through some early-season soreness, I think. Velo is kind of down, but if anything, kind of proves to me that like I can navigate lineups and limit hard contact even without my best stuff. So really, just kind of looking forward to a couple weeks from now, or a month or two from now, and I'm feeling really good in midseason form."

Miller said the soreness isn't atypical, but it's the first time he's had it early in a year. It's been most of a midseason hurdle to work through. He allowed just one run on two hits with three walks and five strikeouts over five innings for the Mariners.

A two-out rally extended Seattle's lead in the fourth inning. Leo Rivas drew a walk and stole second base to move into scoring position. Crawford then fought off a pitch for a soft liner over the head of Josh Jung at third base that drove in Rivas to make it a 3-1 Seattle lead.

Josh Smith doubled to lead off the sixth for the Rangers with reliever Trent Thornton almost able to work out of danger. However, Jung hit an opposite field two-run home run that just cleared the wall to tie the game at 3-3.

Polanco's third hit of the night put a runner on to lead off the eighth inning before Raleigh's blast put Seattle back out front.

"This is how we like to play," Wilson said. "This is our brand of baseball. And, you know, again, we're going to be in a lot of close games. This was another close game that we had. And, you know, guys stepping up at times when it's needed. Cal was the guy tonight to be able to step up and give us that two-run homer. But you know, I think this is hopefully, you know, where we're going to continue to be and keep pushing from here."

What's next:

RHP Bryan Woo (1-0, 3.75 ERA) gets the start for the Mariners on Saturday against Texas RHP Kumar Rocker (0-1, 7.88 ERA).

The Source: Original reporting by FOX 13 Seattle.