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Raleigh hits 44th homer, Rodríguez homers twice as Seattle Mariners win sixth straight, 7-4, over Rays

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Published  August 9, 2025 10:07pm PDT
Seattle Mariners
FOX 13 Seattle
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SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - AUGUST 09: Julio Rodríguez #44 of the Seattle Mariners watches his two run home run against the Tampa Bay Rays at T-Mobile Park on August 09, 2025 in Seattle, Washington. (Steph Chambers / Getty Images)

The Brief

    • Cal Raleigh hit his MLB-leading 44th home run of the season, a three-run blast off Rays starter Joe Boyle in the third inning.
    • Julio Rodríguez homered twice against Boyle to reach 23 home runs for the season. His first-inning shot to center gave Seattle a 2-1 lead, and his third-inning homer came one pitch after Raleigh's to give the Mariners a 6-1 advantage.
    • J.P. Crawford had a 17-pitch at-bat against Rays reliever Mason Englert in the sixth inning, which tied the longest at-bat in Mariners history in the pitch-tracking era (since 1988). Darren Bragg had a 17-pitch at-bat on June 16, 1995, against the Minnesota Twins. Bragg singled while Crawford lined out to shallow left field.

SEATTLE - Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodríguez homered on back-to-back pitches from Tampa Bay Rays starter Joe Boyle, which propelled the Seattle Mariners to a 7-4 win for their sixth straight victory.

Seattle has now won eight of their last nine games since the MLB trade deadline and have pulled within a half-game of the Houston Astros for the lead of the AL West.

"It was a very special night," Rodríguez said, speaking to the retirement of Ichiro Suzuki's No. 51 prior to the game. "We definitely got to go out with a bang and to be able to go like that, the energy in the beginning of the game was unmatched. Cal’s home run, too. It was definitely an awesome night."

Rodríguez homered twice against Boyle, and Raleigh delivered a three-run shot for his 44th home run of the season as Seattle broke the game open in the third inning. With the Mariners leading 2-0 after Rodríguez's first-inning homer, Boyle – a rapid, but occasionally wild right-hander – walked lead-off hitter Cole Young and a single to Randy Arozarena to put a pair of runners on base.

Raleigh drove a 99.6 mph fastball from Boyle out to left field and into the Mariners' bullpen to give Seattle a 5-1 lead. 

"That’s just really good hitting when you can drive a ball the other way like that," manager Dan Wilson said. "You got to do a lot of things right with your swing, and it was just a great AB, a great swing and a great result for us."

On Boyle's very next pitch, Rodríguez turned on a slider and hit a line-drive home run that just cleared the left field wall inside the foul pole for a 6-1 lead and Rodríguez's second homer of the night.

Boyle allowed six runs on four hits with five walks and five strikeouts for Tampa before exiting with one out in the fourth inning. Mason Montgomery got the Rays out of Boyle's jam in the fourth after back-to-back walks to lead-off the inning to J.P. Crawford and Cole Young, who walked in all four plate appearances for Seattle. Montgomery struck out both Raleigh and Rodríguez to keep the lead at 6-1.

Raleigh's Home Run Derby finalist cohort Junior Caminero delivered a three-run home run of his own in the sixth inning to trim Seattle's lead to 6-4. Logan Evans walked Yandy Diaz to lead off the inning and a single to Josh Lowe ended Evans' night.

Caminero pounced on a fastball from Caleb Ferguson and drove it out to straightaway center field for his 32nd of the season.

Evans was otherwise terrific for Seattle. He allowed a first-inning home run to Brandon Lowe, but otherwise cruised through five innings before the trouble in the sixth.

"It’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever done," Evans said of having the stage in front of a sell-out crowd. "I got to say congratulations to him prior to going out in the first inning, and he just wished me luck. And I was like, ‘Wow, it’s Ichiro right there and this is his night.’ So wanted to honor him and honor the whole organization and city."

Young walked for a third time in the sixth and Arozarena singled to advance Young to third. Mason Englert then spiked a pitch in the ground short of the plate that skipped by catcher Nick Fortes as Young raced home to extend the lead to 7-4.

Eduard Bazardo, Gabe Speier and Andrés Muñoz polished off the game on the mound for Seattle as they've all but caught Houston in the division race.

"It just shows the quality of our team, that we can beat you in many different ways and we have the means to just get it done," Rodríguez said. "At the end of the day, that’s all that matters."

The Source: Information in this story came from FOX 13 Seattle reporting.

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