Cal Raleigh etched his name into baseball history on Tuesday night, smashing two home runs to tie the Seattle Mariners' all-time single-season home run record. His 55th and 56th home runs of the season, achieved in consecutive at-bats against the Kansas City Royals, not only tied the franchise mark previously held by Ken Griffey Jr., but also broke Mickey Mantle's record for most home runs by a switch-hitter.
The electrifying performance began in the third inning against Royals pitcher Michael Wacha. After a leadoff double, Raleigh stepped up to the plate left-handed and launched a towering 419-foot shot over the right-field fence, surpassing Mantle's longstanding record set in 1961. This monumental blast came just days after he tied Mantle's record on Sunday against the Angels.
Undeterred, Raleigh returned to the plate in the fourth inning, this time batting right-handed against Daniel Lynch. On the very first pitch, he sent another rocket 425 feet to center field, securing his 56th home run of the season and tying Griffey Jr.'s Mariners record.
The crowd at Kauffman Stadium erupted in applause, a mix of Mariners fans and even Royals supporters acknowledging the exceptional feat. Raleigh's double-homer performance marked his 20th career multi-home run game and an astounding 10th this season alone – a new MLB record for a catcher.
While nine players have achieved 60 or more home runs in a single major league season, with Aaron Judge's 62 home run season in 2022 being the most recent, Raleigh's performance demonstrates an exceptional level of power hitting. With eleven games remaining in the season, he'll need to hit another six to equal Judge’s remarkable achievement. This extraordinary display of hitting prowess secures Raleigh's place in MLB history as one of the most prolific power hitters of his time.
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Originally published at: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/46286502/raleigh-hits-hrs-no-55-56-tie-mariners-franchise-mark
