NEW YORK – As a rookie, Cole Young doesn’t know any better. All he knows is his catcher is putting together perhaps the greatest offensive season for a player at that position.
“It’s absurd,” Young said.
But it’s not just what Cal Raleigh is doing. It’s also what someone like Young is contributing that can lead to a night like what happened Friday when the Mariners quickly erased a few frustrating days in Baltimore with an offensive eruption in the Big Apple.
And not surprisingly the Big Dumper was at the center of it all.
Raleigh hit his 46th homer, Cole Young had three hits, including two doubles and delivered a career-high three RBIs and the M’s snapped their brief two-game skid with an 11-9 win over the New York Mets before 41,200 at Citi Field.
The 22-year-old Young deserves the headlines as he continues to display poise and presence at the plate beyond his years. But when the major-league home run leader adds to his total, moves past a Hall of Famer in the process and does it using a custom bat, that’s going to take top billing.
“It’s a very cool accomplishment. Very glad we got the win tonight. Kind of a cherry on top situation with (hitting) that home run. So, kind of a surreal moment,” Raleigh said.
Raleigh hit a two-run shot off Mets starter Sean Manaea in the third inning to move past Johnny Bench into second place all-time for homers in a season by a catcher. The homer also gave Raleigh 100 RBIs for the season, making him the first catcher since Mike Piazza from 1996-2000 to post 100 or more RBIs in consecutive seasons.
The homer was a majestic shot into the second deck in left field and checked in at 399 feet. It moved Raleigh one step closer to Salvador Perez’s record for a catcher of 48 homers. It gave the M’s a 4-2 lead the time.
“Johnny Bench was the guy that I looked up to as a kid. When I hear that name and I hear somebody passing him, that does mean a lot to me,” M’s manager Dan Wilson said. “We’ve been watching it and seeing it and hearing about it all year, and it’s pretty staggering what Cal has been able to do and continues to do. And there’s still a lot left to go.”
But maybe the more important swing from Raleigh came leading off the seventh inning when he doubled for the first time in two months. Raleigh handled the velocity of Mets reliever Ryan Helsley and punched a 101-mph fastball down the left-field line for his first double since June 27 in Texas.
“He’s one of the better relievers in the league. He’d be a closer anywhere else, if it wasn’t here,” Raleigh said.
It was the spark of a five-run rally for the M’s against the Mets and their maligned bullpen. Eugenio Suárez had an RBI double. Dominic Canzone dribbled an RBI single. And Donovan Solano thumped a double off the wall in left to score another run for his second hit of the game.
Then it was Young’s turn to put a cap on the big inning. Facing lefty reliever Brooks Raley, Young ripped a shot just inside first base to score a pair and give the M’s a 10-6 lead. Young doubled earlier in the game off Manaea, a ground-rule double that actually cost the M’s a run as Mitch Garver was forced to stop at third when the ball went out of play. Young also delivered a two-out RBI single in the sixth inning off Mets reliever Tyler Rogers.
“Just tried to go up there, just tried to do a job, hit the ball hard and then luckily those things happen,” Young said.
Raleigh nearly hit No. 47 leading off the eighth inning, but settled for another double and scored when Julio Rodríguez hit the 100th double of his career.
While it didn’t seem like it in the moment, the M’s needed all those runs after Jackson Kowar surrendered a three-run homer to Francisco Alvarez in the eighth inning.
But Matt Brash extinguished the fire, including a pop out from Francisco Lindor after he homered twice and drove in four runs earlier in the game. The Mets also got a homer from Juan Soto – back-to-back with Lindor – as part of a shaky start from Luis Castillo as he continued to have inconsistent starts away from T-Mobile Park.
Andrés Muñoz worked a perfect ninth to close out his 29th save.
The Mets honored the 60th anniversary of when The Beatles played Shea Stadium marking their first concert in the United States. It became another “Hard Day’s Night” for the Mets and especially their bullpen as they lost for the 14th time in the past 16 games.
Suddenly, the M’s being 8-2 in their last 10 doesn’t seem so bad. And the contributions came from all parts of the lineup.
“Throwing out 16 hits, up-and-down the lineup, huge contributions, huge RBI, getting them with two outs, just all kinds of stuff that you look for in a team and in a team that wants to fight,” Wilson said. “And that’s what they did tonight and on a night that we needed it.”
Eight of the nine M’s starters had at least one hit on a night they were without Josh Naylor, who didn’t feel well. Seven of the nine drove in at least one run. Garver homered and was on base three times. Solano had two hits. Even Dylan Moore contributed with a double in the ninth, his first hit since July 4.
Moore’s double in the ninth was Seattle’s ninth in the game, setting a franchise record.
It all helped make up for Castillo’s subpar start that lasted just four innings, in which he allowed six runs on nine hits and tied a career-high with three homers allowed.
While Castillo’s last few starts away from home had been fairly solid, there is a clear difference this season when he’s pitching inside T-Mobile Park versus pitching elsewhere. His ERA at home is 2.41 in 82 innings pitched over 14 starts.
His ERA on the road after Friday is 4.92 in 60 1/3 innings over 11 starts.
“Just one of those bad days. Sometimes those happen,” Castillo said via interpreter Freddy Llanos.