ATLANTA — Cal Raleigh his major-league-leading 53rd home run, and the Seattle Mariners had 20 hits as they scored their most runs since 2012 in an 18-2 rout of the Atlanta Braves on Sunday.
Raleigh needs one home run to match Mickey Mantle (54 in 1961) for the most by a switch-hitter in a season in MLB history, according to ESPN Research.
Eugenio Suarez homered twice, raising his season total to 45, and Jorge Polanco and Josh Naylor also went deep as the Mariners hit five homers in consecutive games for the second time in team history, the first since May 20-21, 1994.
Mariners slugger Cal Raleigh needs one more home run to match Mickey Mantle (54 in 1961) for the most by a switch-hitter in a season in MLB history. Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire
Polanco and Naylor homered in an eight-run third inning, and Raleigh hit a three-run drive in a seven-run ninth, giving him 113 RBIs. Suárez hit a solo homer in the sixth and a two-run shot in the ninth for his seventh game with multiple home runs this season, which is second to Raleigh (9) among all major leaguers.
Seattle had its most runs since beating Texas 21-8 on May 30, 2012, and its most hits since getting 20 in that game against the Rangers. The Mariners won consecutive games for the first time since Aug. 24 against the Athletics and the following day vs. San Diego.
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Seattle (75-68) opened a 1½-game for the third and last AL Wild Card spot over the Texas Rangers (74-70) and 2 games over Kansas City (73-69), which was set to play later Sunday.
Luis Castillo (9-8) allowed one run and four hits in six innings. It was his first victory since July 28 after going 0-2 with a 7.31 ERA in his previous six starts.
Julio Rodriguez had a stolen base to post his third career season with 25 home runs and 25 stolen bases, tying Darryl Strawberry and Bobby Bonds for the most 25-25 seasons by a player within their first four years played.
Atlanta scratched scheduled starter Spencer Strider on Sunday morning and pushed him back to Tuesday against the Chicago Cubs.
Joey Wentz (5-6) gave up eight runs, matching his career high, and eight hits in 2⅓ innings.
ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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