SEATTLE (AP) — Cal Raleigh hit his major league-leading 59th and 60th home runs of the season and the Seattle Mariners won their fourth AL West title with a 9-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday night.
Raleigh opened the scoring in the first inning against Tanner Gordon with a shot to the top deck in right field, and capped it in the eighth with a two-out drive to right off Angel Chivilli. Julio Rodríguez and Jorge Polanco also homered off Gordon (6-8) in the first.
With four games remaining, Raleigh has a chance to break the AL record of 62 homers set by Yankees star Aaron Judge in 2022.
Luis Castillo (11-8) threw 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball to help the Mariners — the only team in the majors that's never reached the World Series — win for the 16th time in 17 games. It's their first division title since 2001.
Castillo didn’t give up a hit until Blaine Crim launched a solo homer in the fourth.
Eugenio Suárez hit his 48th homer for Seattle in the seventh.
Key moment
Rodríguez hit a no-doubt, solo shot to left field in the first inning immediately after Raleigh’s blast.
Key stats
Raleigh has 11 multihomer games this season, tied with Judge (2022), Hank Greenberg (1938) and Sammy Sosa (1998) for the MLB record. ... Colorado has allowed 1,001 runs, the first team to top 1,000 since the 1999 Rockies gave up 1,028.
Up next
Rockies right-hander Bradley Blalock (2-5, 9.16 ERA) was set to start Thursday night. The Mariners had not announced a starter.
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