Cal Raleigh hits grand slam, drives in six as Seattle Mariners thump Red Sox 8-0
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - JUNE 17: Cal Raleigh #29 of the Seattle Mariners hits a grand slam during the second inning against the Boston Red Sox at T-Mobile Park on June 17, 2025 in Seattle, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / Getty Images)
SEATTLE - The standout summer of Cal Raleigh rolled on Tuesday night.
Raleigh delivered his fourth career grand slam, and a two-run double off Boston starter Walker Buehler for six RBI in an 8-0 Seattle Mariners victory over the Red Sox on Tuesday night.
The grand slam was Raleigh's second of the season and gave him 27 for the season, moving him back past New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge for the most in MLB. Raleigh went 3-for-4 and was only a triple shy of the cycle.
And for good measure, Raleigh swiped third base after his double in the fourth inning for his eighth stolen base of the season, which set a new Mariners' franchise record for a catcher. The mark was previously shared by Mariners manager Dan Wilson and Bob Kearney with seven.
Per the Mariners, Raleigh is the first catcher with three hits, a grand slam and a stolen base in a game since Buster Posey of the San Francisco Giants on June 19, 2015.
On top of Raleigh's standout night, Bryan Woo and the pitching staff tied the Red Sox in knots in well.
Woo allowed one hit, two walks and a hit batter as part of seven scoreless innings for Seattle. Woo struck out six batters and needed only 86 pitches to get through the seventh.
Woo has made 14 consecutive starts to begin the season pitching at least six innings for Seattle. Woo is the first Mariners pitcher to do that since Félix Hernández had 18 straight starts of six innings pitched in 2014. He's the first since Randy Johnson in 1993 to start the season with at least 14 such outings. Johnson had 20 straight to open that season.
Raleigh and the Mariners pounced on Buehler early and often. Seattle had a runner in scoring position against Buehler in all four innings he pitched.
Rowdy Tellez got a five-run second inning started with a single and a stolen base, which was just the fifth of his MLB career. A double from Cole Young drove in Tellez for a 1-0 Seattle lead as a good relay throw home by Ceddanne Rafaela and David Hamilton cut down Ben Williamson at the plate for the second out of the inning.
But Buehler couldn't escape the inning without further damage. Back-to-back walks to J.P. Crawford and Julio Rodríguez loaded the bases for Raleigh, who jumped on a first-pitch change-up from Buehler. The sky-high blast kept floating over the right field wall as the Mariners grabbed a commanding 5-0 lead.
Young and Crawford each singled to lead-off the fourth inning and Crwaford stole second base to put both runners in scoring position. After Rodríguez grounded out to first base, the Red Sox could have elected to intentionally walk Raleigh with the open base at first. Instead, they let Buehler face him again and Raleigh made them pay with a hard grounder inside the bag at first and down the right field line for a two-run double that made it a 7-0 advantage.
Jorge Polanco followed with a sacrifice fly to left that drove in Raleigh as Seattle's lead grew to 8-0.
Meanawhile, Woo was carving up Boston's lineup.
A hit-by-pitch to former Mariner Abraham Toro in the first inning was the only baserunner through four innings for the Red Sox. Marcelo Mayer finally got the first hit off Woo to lead-off the fifth inning, and a one-out walk to Hamilton put a pair of runners on. However, Woo struck out Rob Refsnyder and got Rafaela to fly out to right field to escape the only real danger he faced in the game.
A lead-off walk to Carlos Narváez in the seventh was the last runner to reach against Woo, and he was quickly erased with a double-play ball from Mayer.
Seattle managed just one hit and two walks over the final 4 ⅔ innings against Boston's bullpen, but the game was well in hand. Nate Eaton singled off Andrés Muñoz in the ninth inning for the only other hit by the Red Sox against Seattle pitching in the game.
What's next:
RHP Luis Castillo (4-4, 3.29 ERA) takes the ball for Seattle against LHP Garrett Crochet (6-4, 2.24 ERA) in the series finale on Wednesday afternoon at 1:10 p.m.
The Source: Information in this story came from FOX 13 Seattle reporting.
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