Cal Raleigh Hits Career-High 3 Homers in Mariners Win

Cal Raleigh busted out of a season-long slump with the first three-homer game of his career Monday night, powering the Seattle Mariners to a 9-2 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.

The switch-hitting catcher capped a five-run first inning with a two-run shot off struggling Phillies ace Zack Wheeler. Raleigh and Cole Young opened the fifth with back-to-back homers, chasing Wheeler from the game, and Raleigh connected for another solo shot off reliever Chase Shugart in the seventh, giving him 17 home runs this season.

"I had never done that before — at any level. So, hard to fathom, and it was a fun night," Raleigh said.

It was the first multi-homer game of the year for Raleigh, who finished 3 for 3 with a walk and raised his batting average from .159 to .167. He began the night with a strikeout rate of 31.2%.

"I've been feeling better in the box," Raleigh said. "Physically, trying to just get my hands back sooner and I feel like I've done a better job of that. And then mentally, it's just been about that belief and just having that hope and that optimism every single day."

Raleigh pulled all three homers to right field from the left side of the plate, becoming the 13th player in franchise history to hit three home runs in a game. The previous one was teammate Dominic Canzone on September 16 last year. The only other Seattle catcher to accomplish the feat was current manager Dan Wilson, in April 1996.

Raleigh was runner-up for the American League MVP award last year, when he led the majors with 60 home runs and added 125 RBIs, helping the Mariners reach the American League Championship Series, where they lost in seven games to Toronto.

"Finding the barrel more often, taking his walks more often, swinging at better pitches more often. Tonight was just a combination of all of that again," Wilson said. "To get up there and do it left-handed like he did tonight, I think all of us love to see it."

Mariners starting pitcher Logan Gilbert said the outburst could carry the team forward. "That's just huge I think for confidence and for getting rolling," Gilbert said. "You know how this team does when he gets hot and gets rolling, so I think we're in a good spot."