Cal Raleigh hits 3 homers as Seattle Mariners rout red-hot Phillies

Ryan Divish, The Seattle Times on Aug 25, 2026

Published in Baseball

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For most of Monday night, it felt a lot like, well, last season.

The homers, the celebrations … the fun had returned to T-Mobile Park and the Mariners.

Over the course of the 132 games they’ve played in 2026, the Mariners have searched for that feeling of success, overall production and joy from the lineup, unable to replicate or manufacture it for more than a game here or there.

Why?

The key pieces of last year’s division-winning squad have struggled to carry their success from 2025 into this season at varying levels. But none more so than Cal Raleigh, who has suffered through the worst season of his career after having the best season of any catcher in Major League Baseball history.

But the crowd of 35,293 in attendance and the fans still watching at home were rewarded with a hopeful reminder of what the Mariners could still be in the final five weeks of the season when Raleigh is right and hitting the ball with authority.

Raleigh smashed a career-high three homers to lead the Mariners’ longball barrage in a 9-2 drubbing of the Phillies.

Given the circumstances surrounding the two teams, the outcome was somewhat surprising.

The Phillies arrived in Seattle as the hottest team in baseball having won nine straight games, including Sunday’s dramatic comeback victory where they turned a 4-0 deficit in the bottom of the ninth into a 6-4 victory, ending with Kyle Schwarber’s 459-foot walkoff homer.

Meanwhile, the Mariners spent their Sunday afternoon enduring a 19-2 pasting by the Cubs where two different position players had to pitch. It was the second time in seven days that they’d been routed in lopsided fashion.

But similar to the day after that awful 22-0 loss in Milwaukee last Tuesday, the Mariners came out and grabbed a commanding lead.

It was Julio Rodríguez who set the tone immediately with a home run. Down two strikes, Rodríguez took advantage of a misplaced two-strike splitter from Zack Wheeler sending it over the wall for a three-run homer.

Raleigh’s magical night of homers also started in the first inning. He launched a towering two-run homer to right field to make it 5-1.

His second homer — a solo homer to right field — came in the fifth inning. Cole Young made it back-to-back homers with a low line drive over the wall in right. Raleigh’s career night continued in the seventh with another solo homer to right field.

He is the first Mariners player to hit three homers at T-Mobile Park in one game.

Logan Gilbert got the win, pitching five innings, allowing two runs on five hits with two walks and five strikeouts.

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