It might come as a surprise that Cal Raleigh isn’t the Seattle Mariners’ leading home-run hitter in the month of July.
Raleigh, who leads the majors with 38 homers and won the Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game in Atlanta earlier this week, has gone deep five times this month.
That’s barely more than half the total of teammate Randy Arozarena, a fellow All-Star, who has eight homers in July. That includes a solo shot Friday night as the Mariners defeated the visiting Houston Astros 6-1 in the opener of a three-game series between the top two teams in the American League West.
The series continues Saturday night in Seattle.
Arozarena has homered in three consecutive games, helping the Mariners sweep a three-game series in Detroit before the All-Star break. He has gone deep seven times in his past eight home games.
“Going on the road trip, he picked up right where he left off at home, and now, coming through the break and the All-Star Game, he’s just continuing to stay on that roll,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said of Arozarena. “He got a pitch up in the zone, I thought he put a really good swing on it and just continues to come up big with those home runs.”
Mitch Garver added a solo shot and Raleigh, who leads the majors with 83 RBIs, had a run-scoring single in a four-run eighth inning as the Mariners pulled away.
Luis Castillo pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings for the Mariners, who pulled within four games of Houston in the division race.
“I think it speaks of like the good moment the team is having,” Castillo said through an interpreter. “I come in here and I see a bunch of these guys that are excited in a positive way, positive mentality.
“This is kind of the situation or the mentality that you kind of have to have in order to keep advancing.”
Arguably the only downside on Friday: The Mariners had a 36-inning scoreless streak at home snapped in the eighth.
Houston’s Brice Matthews got his first major-league hit in the third inning and scored his team’s lone run after drawing a leadoff walk in the eighth.
“Yeah, it was awesome. Congratulations on his first hit. Super happy for him,” Astros manager Joe Espada said of Matthews. “I think the more bats you get, the more comfortable he’ll get, the more confidence he’ll feel.”
Espada also praised starter Brandon Walter, who allowed one run on three hits over six innings.
“I thought he threw the ball really, really well, changed speeds with seven punch outs,” Espada said. “He set the tone … his deception makes him very unique and he’s a tough at-bat. He’s got pitches that he can get hitters off balance, and he attacks the zone. He throws a ton of strikes. That’s exactly what we need and he’s done a really nice job.”
The Astros are set to send Lance McCullers Jr. (2-4, 6.48 ERA) to the mound Saturday against fellow right-hander Logan Evans (3-3, 3.75 ERA) of the Mariners.
McCullers lost his last start 7-3 to visiting Texas on July 11 as he gave up five runs over three innings. McCullers is 10-3 with a 2.85 ERA in 19 career starts against Seattle.
Evans, who will be facing the Astros for the first time, also is coming off a rocky outing. He suffered a 9-6 loss to the host New York Yankees on July 9 in which he allowed nine runs in 4 2/3 innings.
–Field Level Media
