Holy smokes, Seattle! Cal Raleigh went absolutely wild last night, crushing three homers against the Philadelphia Phillies as our Mariners secured a 9-2 victory! What a performance by our catcher, delivering some serious power for the Emerald City.
Mariners Bring the Noise, Elsewhere It’s Rough
While our M’s were busy making noise and putting up runs, the pitching landscape elsewhere had a much tougher night. Over in San Francisco, Reds All-Star right-hander Chase Burns had his worst career start against the woeful Giants. Talk about a brutal outing for the guy who signed a $105 million extension just last month. He gave up two runs before getting a single out and five runs before his sixth out! That’s just rough, especially when it’s against a Giants lineup that ranked last in the majors in reaching base with a .305 on-base percentage, and was the only NL team scoring less often than the Reds this season, averaging 4.02 runs per game compared to Cincinnati’s 4.10. Even the outs were loud, that’s how hard the Giants were squaring up his pitches. His previous worst start was last year, in his second start ever, when he didn’t even make it out of the first inning at Fenway. You hate to see it happen to anyone, but wow, what a turn of events.
Cy Young Race Gets a Shake Up After Burns’ Outing
This rough start for Burns, his third loss of the season, sent his ERA jumping more than a quarter-point to 2.77. Until this game, he was right in the thick of a three-way battle for the top spot in NL pitching WAR at 5.0, competing with Philadelphia’s Cristopher Sanchez (7.1) and Milwaukee’s Jacob Misiorowski (5.5). He was also third in ERA at 2.51, behind Misiorowski (1.68) and Atlanta’s Chris Sale (2.20). Manager Terry Francona didn’t hesitate to pull Burns in the fourth inning after just 64 pitches and 3 2/3 innings, especially after Rafael Devers slugged the first home run against him this month. Francona admitted they “need to keep an eye on this kid” regarding his workload, stating there’s no “hard and fast” innings limit but that they don’t want to be “messing around next year thinking, ‘God, we didn’t get him far enough.’” It’s all about getting him through the end of the season making starts. Burns has been downplaying the Cy Young race, with the bigger picture being to finish a full big-league season in the rotation. His upcoming schedule includes heavy doses of contenders like the Cubs, Brewers (twice), Dodgers, and Braves.
For our Mariners, though, it’s all about that big 9-2 win and Cal Raleigh’s unbelievable night. Let’s keep that energy rolling!
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
Leave a Reply