Cal Raleigh homers twice as Mariners rout slumping Angels
Cal Raleigh homered from each side of the plate for the second time in three days, and J.P. Crawford had a two-run homer while getting three hits and three RBIs in the Seattle Mariners’ 11-0 thrashing of the Angels on Thursday night.
Jorge Polanco had a two-run single in a four-run first inning as the Mariners wrecked the major league debut of Jack Kochanowicz (0-1) and kept piling on. Seattle had 15 hits while opening a four-game series in Anaheim with its third straight victory.
Raleigh connected for a solo shot in the third inning from the left side of the plate and a three-run drive in the sixth from the right side. His 19 homers are an ongoing record for a Seattle catcher before the All-Star break.
“Cal Raleigh is on some kind of heater,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “It’s hard to hit home runs from both sides of the plate, and to do it a couple of times in three games here has just been phenomenal. He has that in him, and when he gets hot, he gets rolling, and it’s not just singles, it’s home runs.”
Zach Neto finished a triple short of the cycle as the Angels ended the Rangers’ season-best five-game winning streak.
Luis Castillo (8-9) pitched six innings of four-hit ball with five strikeouts to win consecutive starts for the first time since April. Seattle’s pitching staff hasn’t allowed a run in 19 straight innings after its second straight shutout and 10th this season.
Mickey Moniak had two hits for the Angels, who have lost nine of 11. The Angels were shut out for the fourth time in its last nine games.
Kochanowicz made it through three innings for the Halos, allowing four earned runs on seven hits and two hit batters. The Angels promoted the 23-year-old right-hander straight from Double-A Rocket City to fill a vacancy in its patchwork rotation, but the Mariners’ first five batters reached base against him.
“It was good to see some aggressive swings early on,” Raleigh said. “That makes a difference, to come out of the gate and put pressure on them. With the pitching we have, if we get out to an early lead, it only gives our guys more confidence in pounding the zone. It was a good night.”
Raleigh’s leadoff homer in the third pushed him ahead of Oakland’s Shea Langeliers for the most homers by a catcher this season. Raleigh then added his three-run shot to left field for his seventh career multi-homer game, following his two-homer performance Tuesday in San Diego.
Crawford hit a two-run homer in the fourth, smoking a 108 mph line drive to right, and he added an RBI single in the sixth. The Long Beach native usually excels in front of his large cheering section at the Big A, where he has 45 hits — his most at any visiting ballpark — and 19 RBIs in 38 career visits.
Sean Burroughs, who led Long Beach to back-to-back Little League World Series titles in the 1990s, died of fentanyl intoxication, the L.A. County medical examiner says.
Seattle got to Kochanowicz immediately, opening the first inning with four straight hits. After Crawford cracked a leadoff double and scored on Josh Rojas’ single to right, the Mariners got five straight batters on base to begin a game for the first time since August 2022.
Seattle then scored on a throwing error by third baseman Luis Guillorme, who should have turned an inning-ending double play, and Polanco added his two-run single.
“(Kochanowicz) does have a lot of sink on his ball, but in that first inning, it was high,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “He came out in the second inning and cleaned up a little bit, (but) I just thought they worked him pretty good, and I didn’t think it was going to get any better.”
Kevin Pillar was ejected by home plate umpire Nick Mahrley in the sixth after a called third strike that appeared to be well off the plate.
Injury update: Angels left-hander José Quijada moved up to pitch at Triple-A Salt Lake on Wednesday in his comeback from Tommy John surgery in May 2023. He is still expected to return to the majors this season.
Up next: All-Star selection Tyler Anderson (8-8, 2.81 ERA) takes the mound for the Angels on Friday. Seattle will likely send out Bryan Woo (3-1, 1.77) to make his return from a two-start absence because of a hamstring injury.
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