SEATTLE (AP) — Cal Raleigh homered again, rooke Cole Young also went deep and George Kirby pitched six strong innings as the Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers 6-0 on Thursday night.
Raleigh hit his major league-leading 42nd home run in the fifth inning, two batters after Young hit his third, to give Seattle a 3-0 lead.
Eguenio Suárez, back in the Mariners’ lineup for the first time she was acquired from Arizona on Wednesday night, doubled against Rangers starter Kumar Rocker in the fourth inning and scored on a wild pitch to get Seattle on the scoreboard. Suárez played for the Mariners from 2022-23.
J.P. Crawford singled in a run in the sixth, and Young followed with an RBI triple and scored on a passed ball.
Kirby (6-5) gave up three hits and walked two while striking out six.
Caleb Ferguson, a deadline acquisition from Pittsburgh, pitched a perfect seventh in his Mariners debut.
Trent Thornton pitched 1 2/3 innings before being carted off the field in the ninth with an apparent lower left leg injury. Casey Legumina got the last out to complete the four-hit shutout.
Rocker (4-5) allowed three runs and six hits in 4 2/3 innings.
The Rangers were without third baseman Josh Jung (left calf soreness).
Key moment
After the Rangers put the tying runs on second and third with two out in the sixth, Kirby got out of the jam by getting Adolis Garcia on an inning-ending fly ball.
Key stat
Raleigh set the single-season record for home runs by a switch-hitting catcher, passing Todd Hundley’s previos mark of 41 for the New York Mets in 1996.
Up next
Rangers RHP Jack Leiter (7-6, 4.09 ERA) goes against Mariners RHP Logan Gilbert (3-4, 3.36) on Friday.
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AP MLB: https://www.apnews.com/hub/MLB
