Cal Raleigh hit two home runs and Julio Rodriguez also went deep as the Seattle Mariners defeated the visiting Washington Nationals 9-1 in the opener of a three-game interleague series Tuesday night.
Raleigh’s 18th and 19th homers of the season moved him past the New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge for the American League lead in that category. The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani tops the majors with 20.
James Wood homered for the Nationals, who had won six of their previous eight games.
Mariners rookie Logan Evans (3-1) allowed one run on four hits over eight innings. The right-hander walked one and struck out four.
The only other hits Evans allowed were a single to Nathaniel Lowe in the fourth, a leadoff single by Jose Tena in the sixth and a leadoff double by Luis Garcia Jr. in the eighth.
The American League West-leading Mariners took a 3-0 lead in the first inning off Washington left-hander Mitchell Parker (4-4). J.P. Crawford led off by lining a single to center and Rodriguez hit a two-run shot into the Seattle bullpen in left-center field. Raleigh followed with a homer into the second deck in left field.
Evans didn’t allow a hit until Wood’s 448-foot blast off the batter’s eye in straightaway center with one out in the fourth.
Raleigh hit his second homer to left with two outs in the fifth to end Parker’s night.
Parker gave up four runs on seven hits over 4 2/3 innings, with one walk and four strikeouts.
The Mariners pulled away with three more runs in the sixth. Dylan Moore led off with a double to left and Donovan Solano walked. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch by reliever Jackson Rutledge. With one out, Moore scored on Ben Williamson’s chopper down the third-base line. Crawford’s groundout to short brought home another run and Rodriguez drove in the final run on a shallow fly ball to center that went off the glove of second baseman Garcia.
The Mariners tacked on a pair of runs in the eighth after loading the bases with no outs. The runs scored on Garcia’s errant throw on a potential inning-ending, double-play grounder.
