Cal Raleigh Turns into 1st Participant Since Barry Bonds To Hit 38 HRs Earlier than All-Star Break

Cal Raleigh hit his 37th and 38th home runs on Friday to move within one of Barry Bonds’ 2001 record for homers before the All-Star break, and the Seattle Mariners beat Detroit 12-3 on Friday night to end Tarik Skubal’s three-month unbeaten streak.

Raleigh — in the lineup as designated hitter — made it 5-3 on a solo shot in the eighth inning, then hit a grand slam in a seven-run ninth. The two home runs made Raleigh the only other player than Bonds to reach the 38-home-run mark prior to the All-Star break.

Skubal (10-3) was 10-0 with a 1.62 ERA in 16 starts since losing 3-2 to the Mariners in Seattle on April 2. He allowed four runs on four hits and two walks in five innings, striking out five.

Luis Castillo (6-5) got the win, giving up three runs in five innings.

Seattle took a 1-0 lead in the third when center fielder Parker Meadows dove for Donovan Solano’s sinking liner and missed. It rolled to the wall for an RBI triple. ach McKinstry tied it with a fourth-inning single.

J.P. Crawford’s two-out RBI single made it 2-1 in the fifth, and Rodríguez followed with a two-run homer over the Seattle bullpen in left-center field.

Riley Greene’s RBI triple got the major league-leading Tigers to 4-2 in the sixth, and Spencer Torkelson followed with a sacrifice fly.

Key moment

Nine of Seattle’s first 10 batters reached base in the ninth inning, leading manager A.J. Hinch to insert catcher Jake Rogers for his third career pitching appearance. He retired two of the three batters he faced to escape the inning.

Key stat

Skubal started on four days rest in order to get an extra day off before the All-Star Game. In his career, he’s 14-15 with a 3.98 ERA on four days of rest, but 37-16 with a 2.68 ERA on five or more. The biggest difference comes in walks (2.6 per nine as opposed to 1.6) and homers (1.4 per nine as opposed to 0.8).

Up next

Tigers All-Star RHP Casey Mize (9-2, 2.63) was set to face RHP George Kirby (3-4, 4.22) on Saturday.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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