Seattle Mariners star Cal Raleigh hit his major league-leading 54th home run in the first inning of Sunday’s 11-2 rout of the visiting Los Angeles Angels, tying Mickey Mantle’s single-season record for most by a switch hitter that he set in 1961.

Raleigh was batting left-handed when he hit a two-run shot off Kyle Hendricks 409 feet into the Mariners’ bullpen in left-center field.

Mantle topped 50 twice in his career, also hitting 52 in 1956. When Mantle set the mark in 1961, he and New York Yankees teammate Roger Maris spent the summer chasing Babe Ruth’s MLB-record 60 home runs. Maris finished with 61.

Raleigh has 12 games to break the tie with Mantle.

Raleigh told reporters afterward that he remembers being a seventh-grader when he went to a New York Yankees game at the old Yankee Stadium with his father.

“I remember him talking about him like he was a god — which he was,” Raleigh said of his dad’s words about Mantle.

Raleigh’s homer helped Seattle (82-68) win its ninth straight game. The Mariners moved into sole possession of the American League West.

Raleigh has two more homers than Philadelphia Phillies star Kyle Schwarber, who hit his 52nd on Sunday.

Raleigh also sits two homers shy of Seattle’s franchise record owned by Hall of Fame center fielder Ken Griffey Jr., who set the mark in 1997 and equaled it in 1998 when the Mariners played at the Kingdome.

–Field Level Media