Cal Raleigh hit two home runs, his major league-leading 34th and 35th of the season, as the Seattle Mariners defeated the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates 6-0 Friday afternoon in the opener of a three-game interleague series.
Randy Arozarena and Dylan Moore also went deep and Bryan Woo (8-4) pitched six scoreless innings for Seattle, which snapped the Pirates’ six-game winning streak.
Raleigh surpassed his career high for homers, set last year when he hit 34, and tied the franchise record for most before the All-Star break, established by Ken Griffey Jr. in 1998.
After Julio Rodriguez reached base on an error, Raleigh hit a two-run shot in the first inning that landed three rows from the top of the second deck in left field. The ball traveled 433 feet at 115.2 mph, the hardest hit of Raleigh’s career.
Arozarena went the opposite way on a solo shot with one out in the fourth, the ball sneaking just inside the right field foul pole. It was his fifth homer over the past five games.
Raleigh increased the lead to 4-0 in the sixth on a two-out fly ball that just cleared the fence in left-center field.
Moore, mired in a 1-for-38 slump, lined a two-run shot into the Pirates’ bullpen in left field with one out in the seventh off Braxton Ashcraft to make it 6-0.
Woo allowed three hits — all by Nick Gonzales — walked two and struck out eight. Woo has gone at least six innings in all 17 of his starts this season, the only pitcher in the majors to have done so.
Pirates starter Bailey Falter (6-4) allowed just three hits over 5 2/3 innings, but all of them cleared the outfield fence. Falter gave up four runs (three earned), didn’t walk a batter and fanned four.
The Pirates’ pitching staff, which shut out St. Louis in each of the previous three games, had a 31-inning scoreless streak snapped.
–Field Level Media
