Cal Raleigh, Mariners seek to continue playoff surge in finale vs. Rockies

Another night, another raucous celebration for the Seattle Mariners.

After clinching a postseason berth Tuesday, the Mariners captured their first American League West title since 2001 with a 9-2 victory against the visiting Colorado Rockies on Wednesday as Cal Raleigh led a power surge with two home runs, giving him a major league-leading 60 this season.

The Mariners will be chasing a top-two seed and a first-round playoff bye when the three-game interleague series wraps up Thursday night.

Julio Rodriguez, Jorge Polanco and Eugenio Suarez also went deep for the Mariners (89-69), who won their sixth in a row and for the 16th time in their past 17 games. Right-hander Luis Castillo allowed one run on as many hits over 7 1/3 innings and struck out a season-high 10.

The Mariners, who estimated their celebration at 50 percent after clinching at least a wild-card spot, went all out after claiming the division.

"This is so much better," said Rodriguez, who hit back-to-back homers with Raleigh in the first inning. "To be the best team in the division, it definitely means a lot to us. It's a special group. There is something building in this city right now. Everybody knows we have the team."

Mariners manager Dan Wilson was the team's catcher the last time they won the AL West.

"It just feels really good," Wilson said. "You work hard all season long, and you get to this point, it's just pure joy. You've been able to accomplish something that you wanted to accomplish while understanding that there's still more ahead of us."

Raleigh hit solo shots in the first and eighth innings and added a two-run double in the second, going 3-for-5 with four RBIs. His first homer reached the third deck in right field, the eighth player to do so since the ballpark opened in 1999.

Raleigh also became just the seventh player in MLB history to reach the 60-homer plateau in a season. He's two shy of Aaron Judge's AL record set in 2022.

"It's incredible, because you know that he had a good year last year, and he had 30. That's double the amount of homers. It's hard to fathom to see that," Rockies interim manager Warren Schaeffer said. "I'm sure they are in awe when they watch it every day, especially from the catcher's position, which is a grind. You know, hats off to Cal Raleigh."

Blaine Crim homered for the Rockies (43-115), who dropped their second straight. Starter Tanner Gordon allowed three homers in the first inning and couldn't recover.

"I thought that he missed probably too much plate," Schaeffer said. "I mean, those guys were ready to hit tonight. They got after him early. They're just ready to hit, man. That's a good team."

Rockies right-hander Bradley Blalock (2-5, 9.16 ERA) is scheduled to start the series finale. The Mariners haven't yet announced who will pitch Thursday.

Blalock is coming off a 7-6 victory last Friday against the visiting Los Angeles Angels in which he allowed six runs on eight hits over five innings. He will be facing the Mariners for the first time in his career.

-Field Level Media