SEATTLE (AP) — Cal Raleigh’s 64th home run of the year wasn’t his longest. Just the most satisfying.
His eighth-inning drive against the Toronto Blue Jays was no sure thing. The ball rose 155 feet above the field on a high arc and had a 6.7-second hang time before it dropped over the left-field wall at T-Mobile Park, 348 feet from home plate.
“So the roof open, you know, maybe a different result, I don’t know,” Raleigh said following Friday’s that moved the Seattle Mariners within one victory of their first World Series trip. “But, glad I got enough of that one.”
Seattle heads back to Toronto for Game 6 on Sunday night with a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven American League Championship Series. Eugenio Suárez hit a tiebreaking grand slam later in the eighth.
Raleigh, a switch-hitting catcher who led the major leagues with 60 home runs during the regular season, has four more in the playoffs.
He also showed his Gold Glove-winning defense. With the Mariners ahead 1-0 in the fourth, the Blue Jays loaded the bases with one out against starter Bryce Miller only for Raleigh to turn the second 2-3 grounded into double play in postseason history.
Ernie Clement tapped the ball onto the plate. Raleigh grabbed the ball with a foot on the plate for a forceout, then threw to first.
Mariners manager Dan Wilson started the only previous 2-3 GIDP in postseason history, against the Yankees in Game 2 of the 2000 ALCS.
“It was just a heads-up play,” Wilson said. “I don’t think anybody could have placed it any better than where it ended up, and then for him to be able to pounce on that, touch home plate, and then get the easy double play at first.”
Toronto went just 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position and was held to two runs after scoring 21 over the previous two games.
“That’s what he’s done all season long, both sides of the ball,” Wilson said. “We saw him make that play today, a lot of nice blocks today, and then to be able to deliver offensively like he did. It’s just, again, in my mind, an easy MVP choice and today was just another perfect example of that.”
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