Cal Raleigh homered from both sides of the plate and Bryce Miller tossed five shutout innings to lead the visiting Seattle Mariners to a 5-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night.
The Mariners caught a break when Elly De La Cruz singled to open the eighth inning, then stole second on a strikeout by Austin Hays. But De La Cruz was ruled out on batter’s interference as home plate umpire Chris Segal determined that Hays interfered with Raleigh’s throw to second base on the follow-through of his swing.
The two homers gave Raleigh 100 for his career and marked the fourth time he has homered from both sides of the plate. It was his 11th career multi-homer game.
Andres Munoz pitched a scoreless ninth for his seventh save in as many chances this season.
The Mariners’ Dylan Moore, who hit two homers Tuesday night, continued his hot start to the series, going 2-for-4 and is now 5-for-9 in the two games. The second baseman also started a critical double play to get the Mariners out of a jam and end a three-run Cincinnati rally in the seventh.
Seattle started its attack on Cincinnati starter and losing pitcher Nick Martinez (0-3) on the first pitch, with some help from De La Cruz. Julio Rodriguez grounded a ball to short that De La Cruz backed up on then bobbled, allowing Rodriguez to reach on an error.
Martinez was able to retire the next two batters before Randy Arozarena lined a double high off the padding on the left field wall, scoring Rodriguez with an unearned run and giving Seattle a 1-0 lead in the first for a second straight game.
Miller (1-2) kept Cincinnati hitless until Jose Trevino’s two-out double down the left field line in the third inning. Miller was pulled after five shutout innings, allowing just three hits while striking out eight and walking two to earn his first win of the season.
De La Cruz was at the center of another unfortunate play in the fourth when he reached on a one-out walk and stole second. But before the next pitch, he was caught too far off second as he broke toward third and was easily tagged out in a rundown.
Raleigh added a tape-measure home run estimated at 412 feet in the fifth off Martinez, who was charged with four runs — three earned — on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings. Raleigh added a towering homer to left off Taylor Rogers in the seventh to make it 5-0.
–Field Level Media
