Mariners' Cal Raleigh ties Griffey, passes Mantle with homers 55, 56
UPI

Mariners' Cal Raleigh ties Griffey, passes Mantle with homers 55, 56

Cal Raleigh passed one baseball icon and tied another with his 55th and 56th home runs of the season in a Seattle Mariners thrashing of the Kansas City Royals.

Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh went 3 for 5 in a win over the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday in Kansas City, Mo. File Photo by Mark Black/UPI UPI Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh his six home runs through his first 14 games of September. File Photo by Mark Black/UPI UPI Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh leads MLB with 56 home runs this season. File Photo by Mike Zarrilli/UPI UPI Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh (C) is tied for second in MLB with 118 RBIs. File Photo by Mark Black/UPI UPI Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh is hitting .247 this season. File Photo by Maria Lysaker/UPI UPI

Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Cal Raleigh passed one baseball icon and tied another with his 55th and 56th home runs of the season in a Seattle Mariners thrashing of the Kansas City Royals.

The Mariners catcher hit his 55th home run in the third inning of the 12-5 triumph Tuesday in Kansas City, Mo. That 419-foot solo shot pushed him past New York Yankees legend Mickey Mantle for the most single-season home runs by a switch hitter.

Mariners designed hitter Dominic Canzone homered three times. Royals catcher Carter Jensen homered twice.

Raleigh clobbered his 56th home run in the top of the fourth. That 425-foot, two-run shot matched Ken Griffey Jr.'s Mariners franchise record, which he set in 1997 and tied in 1998.

"It's really cool," Raleigh told reporters. "I'm humbled by it. A crazy kind of thing I never thought would happen," he said standing inside a tunnel beneath Kauffman Stadium after his 20th career mult-ihomer game and 10th this season.

...

"Just taking it day-by-day, pitch-by-pitch. Really enjoying every day with these guys and just trying to finish the season strong."

Tuesday's performance also marked Raleigh's 10th multi-homer game of 2025, another single-season record for switch hitters. Mantle sits in second with eight from his 54-homer 1961 campaign.

Mariners center fielder Julio Rodriguez started the scoring with a two-run double in the first. Canzone, who went 5 for 5, hit a 419-foot solo shot in the second -- his third home run of the season.

Raleigh, who doubled in his first at-bat, led off the third for his second exchange with Royals starter Michael Wacha. He then ripped a 1-1 Wacha curveball into the right field seats for a 4-0 Mariners lead.

The Mariners scored three more times in that inning. Raleigh returned to the plate in the top of the fourth. He hit the first pitch he saw from relief pitcher Daniel Lynch IV to center field for a 9-0 Mariners advantage, tying Griffey's franchise record with the two-run shot.

The Royals got on the scoreboard with a solo homer from Jensen in the bottom of the inning.

Canzone smashed his second homer of the night in the top of the fifth. Jensen hit his second homer of the game in the bottom of the sixth. The Royals plated their final two runs in the bottom of the eighth.

Canzone completed his home run trio with a 388-foot, two-run shot in the top of the ninth.

Raleigh went 3 for 5 with three RBIs and three runs scored for the Mariners. He is now hitting .247 and leads the league in home runs. His 118 RBIs are tied for second in MLB and lead the American League.

...

Raleigh hit nine home runs in April, 12 in May, 11 in June, nine in July and eight in August. He hit six through his first 14 games of September. Raleigh needs six home runs to match Yankees star Aaron Judge's American League single-season record mark of 62, which he hit during the 2022 season.

His 56 home runs are tied with Griffey for the 19th-most hit in a single season. He needs three more to tie Babe Ruth and Giancarlo Stanton for the 10th-most homers hit in a single season.

The Mariners have 11 games remaining on their regular-season schedule. They will play the Royals at 7:40 p.m. EDT Wednesday at Kauffman Stadium.

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