SEATTLE, WA - AUGUST 25: Jorge Polanco #7 of the Seattle Mariners celebrates in the dugout during the game between the San Diego Padres and the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park on Monday, August 25, 2025 in Seattle, Washington. (Mollie Handkins / MLB Photos / Getty Images)
SEATTLE - Jorge Polanco hit a two-run home run as part of a four-RBI night, Cal Raleigh hit his 50th home run of the season, and the Seattle Mariners won the Vedder Cup with a 9-6 win over the San Diego Padres.
The Mariners have won all four games against the Padres this season, clinching the inaugural Vedder Cup between the two clubs.
Polanco and Raleigh each homered off San Diego starter J.P. Sears, and a five-run fifth inning against reliever David Morgan allowed Seattle to dig out of an early 4-1 deficit.
Raleigh is now five home runs clear of Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Schwarber for the MLB lead. Raleigh is just the second player in franchise history to hit 50 home runs, joining Ken Griffey Jr., who hit 56 home runs in 1997 and 1998.
"It doesn't seem real," Raleigh said. "I mean, 50 home runs. It's kind of crazy number to to think of. It's a big number just in general, I remember thinking back when I thought I was a cool player when I hit five when I was young in high school. You hit five, you had all this power in the world."
Raleigh battled out of an 0-2 hole against Sears to work a full count. He then jumped on a down-and-in fastball from Sears and drove it into the left field seats for a 1-0 Mariners lead.
"You think he’s going to get to a point where you’re not comparing him to people, but he’s being compared to Hall of Famers, and that means a ton," manager Dan Wilson said. "Being able to set the catcher’s mark, and that continues to go up, that bar continues to get higher."
The Padres tagged Mariners starter Bryce Miller for a trio of home runs in the second inning. Solo shots from Gavin Sheets and Jake Cronenworth put San Diego out front before Fernando Tatis Jr.'s two-run blast to center field extended the lead.
"Yeah, that was a frustrating inning, obviously," Miller said. "But I felt like I made a good pitch to Sheets – curveball down, and then the first pitch up-and-in heater to Cronenworth. But I fell behind 2-0 to Tatis and threw a sinker that got too much plate.
"I’m happy, we were able to make an adjustment moving forward. I threw a lot of splitters after that, and was able to give us a chance."
An error by Manny Machado allowed Mitch Garver to reach in the second inning before Polanco's line drive shot to left field cut the San Diego lead to 4-3.
"That answer-back home run from Polo, I thought those two runs were huge to get us right back into it," Wilson said.
Seattle loaded the bases with no outs against Sears in the fourth inning and a double-play ball from J.P. Crawford was enough to score Josh Naylor to tie the game at 4-4.
The Mariners then pounced on a wild Morgan with two outs in the fifth inning to seize control.
Morgan – who hadn't allowed more than one run in any of his first 31 appearances this season – hit Raleigh with a pitch to put a runner on base with one out. After a Julio Rodríguez fielder's choice, Morgan walked Eugenio Suárez before Naylor's RBI single scored Rodríguez to give Seattle the lead.
"Five runs with two outs in the fifth, that’s huge," Wilson said. "It shows how we play and how we fight. Some really good at-bats in that inning."
Garver walked to load the bases and Polanco pulled a two-run double just inside first base into the right field corner to make it a 7-4 Mariners lead that ended Morgan's night. A flare to right from Crawford against Wandy Peralta dropped just out of reach of a sliding Tatis in right field to score two more and make it a 9-4 Seattle advantage.
Ramón Laureano chipped away at Seattle's lead with a solo home run off Eduard Bazardo in the seventh inning to trim the lead to 9-5. The Padres put pressure on Matt Brash in the eighth inning with Gavin Sheets nearly delivering a three-run home run down the right field line only for the ball to hook just foul.
After loading the bases, Brash struck out Laureano to escape the jam.
An error by Suárez in the ninth put a pair of runners in scoring position against Andrés Muñoz with one out, but Muñoz forced an RBI groundout from Luis Arraez and struck out Machado to seal a 9-6 victory.
The Mariners gained a half-game in the standings on an idle Houston Astros team, pulling within 1.5 games of the AL West lead.
They also picked a game on each of their nearest three challengers in the Wild Card race as the Kansas City Royals, Texas Rangers and Cleveland Guardians each lost. Seattle now leads the final Wild Card spot by 4.0, 5.5 and 6.0 games, respectively, while remaining a half game behind the New York Yankees and a full game behind the Boston Red Sox for the first two Wild Card positions.
The Source: Information in this story came from FOX 13 Seattle.
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