Cal Raleigh Hits Three Home Runs as Mariners Beat Phillies 9-2

On Monday, August 24, 2026, Cal Raleigh hit three home runs for the first time in his career and the Seattle Mariners routed the Philadelphia Phillies 9-2 at T-Mobile Park, ending Philadelphia’s nine-game winning streak with a five-homer offensive outburst. Raleigh finished 3-for-3 with a walk and four RBIs, pulling all three longballs into right field from the left side of the plate in a night that broke a season-long power drought for the 2025 American League MVP runner-up.

The Phillies arrived in Seattle with momentum from a season-best run, but Zack Wheeler lasted only four innings and the Mariners scored five times in the first. Julio Rodríguez set the tone with a three-run homer, Raleigh capped the frame with a two-run shot, and Seattle never looked back.

Editor’s note: This article draws on game coverage from the Associated Press, ESPN, the Spokesman-Review, and MyNorthwest, August 24–25, 2026.

Match at a glance

Detail	Information
Date	Monday, August 24, 2026
Venue	T-Mobile Park, Seattle, WA
Final score	Mariners 9, Phillies 2
Series	Three-game set — Game 1
Winning pitcher	Logan Gilbert (11-7) — 5 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 5 K, 2 BB
Losing pitcher	Zack Wheeler (10-5) — 4 IP, 8 ER, 9 H, 4 K, 5 BB
Records after	Phillies 73-59; Mariners 63-69

Philadelphia had won nine straight — its longest streak of 2026 — before Raleigh and a Mariners lineup that had struggled for much of the summer finally broke through against one of the National League’s top clubs.

How the game unfolded

The Phillies struck first. Kyle Schwarber walked and advanced on a single and a fielder’s choice before Alec Bohm grounded into an RBI out, giving Philadelphia a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Mariners starter Logan Gilbert escaped further damage by striking out Bryson Stott with the bases loaded.

Seattle answered immediately. Julio Rodríguez, down to his final strike against Wheeler, launched a three-run homer to left — his 20th of the season and a 392-foot blow that put the Mariners ahead 3-1. Taylor Ward walked, and Raleigh followed with a towering two-run drive to right (378 feet), capping a five-run first and extending the lead to 5-1.

Inning	Scoring play	Score
1st	Bohm RBI groundout	1-0 PHI
1st	Rodríguez three-run HR	3-1 SEA
1st	Raleigh two-run HR	5-1 SEA
2nd	Realmuto solo HR	5-2 SEA
3rd	Rodríguez scored on Wheeler wild pitch	6-2 SEA
5th	Raleigh solo HR	7-2 SEA
5th	Young solo HR	8-2 SEA
7th	Raleigh solo HR	9-2 SEA

J.T. Realmuto homered in the second to cut the deficit to 5-2, but Wheeler could not stabilize. A bases-loaded wild pitch in the third scored Rodríguez and made it 6-2.

Raleigh’s historic night

Raleigh opened the fifth with a solo homer to right-center (397 feet) off Wheeler, and Cole Young followed with a back-to-back blast to chase the Phillies ace from the game. In the seventh, Raleigh connected again — a 351-foot solo shot to right off reliever Chase Shugart that sailed just beyond a leaping Bryce Harper in right field.

The performance gave Raleigh 17 home runs on the season and raised his batting average from .159 to .167. It was his first multi-homer game of 2026 and his first three-homer game at any level of his career — coming nearly 11 months after he hit his 59th and 60th homers of 2025 on September 24.

Raleigh milestone	Detail
Career first	Three-home-run game
Franchise history	13th Mariner with a three-HR game; first at T-Mobile Park
Catcher precedent	Only other Seattle catcher with three homers in a game: manager Dan Wilson (April 1996)
Previous Mariner	Dominic Canzone (Sept. 16, 2025)
Home venue note	Last Mariner with three homers in a home game: Edgar Martínez at the Kingdome (May 18, 1999)

Raleigh entered the night with a 31.2% strikeout rate and had been mired in the worst offensive stretch of his career after leading the majors with 60 home runs and 125 RBIs in 2025. Monday’s eruption offered the clearest sign yet that his power stroke might be returning.

Mariners offense and Gilbert’s start

Beyond Raleigh, Seattle hit five home runs in all. Rodríguez’s first-inning blast and Young’s fifth-inning solo shot rounded out the longball tally. Josh Naylor went 3-for-4 without a homer, and the lineup piled 10 hits against a Phillies staff that entered the series on a roll.

Gilbert worked five innings, allowing two runs on five hits with five strikeouts and two walks. The right-hander improved to 11-7 and held a dangerous Philadelphia order to modest damage after the early Philadelphia rally. The bullpen carried the final four frames scorelessly to close out the rout.

Wheeler and the streak that ended

Wheeler’s line — eight earned runs on nine hits with five walks in four innings — was among the worst of his 2026 season and stood in sharp contrast to Philadelphia’s recent form. The Phillies had won nine straight, their best run of the year, and arrived at 73-59 still in contention in the National League playoff picture.

Instead, Seattle’s early barrage put Wheeler in an immediate hole he could not climb out of. Philadelphia managed only five hits and two runs total, with Realmuto’s second-inning homer providing the only other scoring beyond the first-inning groundout.

Standout performances

Player	Line / moment
Cal Raleigh	3-for-3, BB, 3 HR, 4 RBI — career-first three-homer game
Julio Rodríguez	2-for-5, 3-run HR (20th of season)
Cole Young	1-for-4, solo HR — back-to-back with Raleigh in 5th
Josh Naylor	3-for-4
Logan Gilbert	5.0 IP, 2 ER — W (11-7)
Zack Wheeler	4.0 IP, 8 ER, 5 BB — L (10-5)
J.T. Realmuto	Solo HR in 2nd

What’s next

The three-game series continues at T-Mobile Park on Tuesday, August 25, with George Kirby (8-10) scheduled to start for Seattle against a Phillies starter to be confirmed. Philadelphia will look to rebound quickly; Seattle will try to build on a night that finally showcased the middle-of-the-order thump that defined its 2025 division-winning club.

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Discussion

Raleigh’s 2025 season set a modern standard for catcher power. His 2026 struggles have been one of the Mariners’ biggest storylines — until Monday.

1. Raleigh went from 60 homers and MVP-runner-up status in 2025 to a .159 average entering Monday. Does a three-homer night change how you view his season — or was this one breakout against a struggling Wheeler?

2. Philadelphia’s nine-game streak masked Monday’s collapse. With Wheeler shelled early, how much concern should Phillies fans carry about the rotation’s depth heading into September?

Where does Raleigh’s power rebound rank among the Mariners’ must-watch storylines down the stretch?

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