Cal Raleigh hit his major league-leading 40th home run to highlight a four-run sixth inning and Julio Rodriguez homered for the fourth time in three games to lead the Seattle Mariners to a 7-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday night in Anaheim, Calif.
Randy Arozarena also homered and Dominic Canzone added a two-run single for the Mariners, who moved within four games of the first-place Houston Astros in the American League West.
Raleigh became the first catcher and switch-hitter in major league history to hit 40 homers before the end of July. He also became the seventh different catcher to hit 40 home runs in a season, joining Johnny Bench and Mike Piazza — who both did it twice — Roy Campanella, Todd Hundley, Javy Lopez and Salvador Perez.
George Kirby (5-5) picked up the win, allowing two runs on five hits in six innings while striking out nine.
Taylor Ward hit a home run and had two hits and Nolan Schanuel also had two hits for Los Angeles, which lost for the fifth time in the last six games. Reliever Jose Fermin (2-2) was handed the loss, allowing three runs on one hit and two walks without recording an out.
Los Angeles took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Ward led off with his 24th home run, a 404-foot drive to right.
Seattle tied it in the third on Rodriguez’s 18th homer and 12th in 27 career games at Anaheim Stadium, a 422-foot shot to left-center. It was the third consecutive game that Rodriguez homered, the third time in his career that he accomplished that feat.
The Mariners took a 2-1 lead when Arozarena led off the fourth with his 20th home run, the fifth consecutive season he has hit 20 homers in a season. It also was his 12th home run in 22 games since June 30.
After Los Angeles tied it at 2 in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Zach Neto, the Mariners batted around in the sixth while scoring four runs. Raleigh led off with a home run to give Seattle a 3-2 lead and Arozarena, Josh Naylor and Jorge Polanco all followed with walks to load the bases. One out later, Canzone made it 5-2 with a two-run single to center, and Polanco scored one out later on a fielding error by Luis Rengifo.
The Mariners added an insurance run in the eighth when Polanco led off with a single, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Ben Williamson.
–Field Level Media
