Cal Raleigh ties Ken Griffey Jr., Mariners spark a shutout win

Home runs 34 and 35 for Big Dumper help secure a tidy holiday victory

Cal Raleigh hit his 34th home run of the 2025 season as I walked down the precipitously sloping hill to Seward Park.

I laugh, because what else can you do when July 4 falls on a Friday, the sun is shining and your franchise catcher - who signed an extension just a few months prior - has just tied his career high with eight more games to play before the All Star break.

Oh, and it was the hardest-hit ball of his career. Don’t worry, that wasn’t a foreshock, that was just Aaron Goldsmith.

The salsa is sun-warmed and viscous, and I scoop it messily onto Juanita’s (highly recommend the new-to-me chilipeño variety) while Bryan Woo dispatches the Pirates tidily in the third. It’s particularly welcome after a not-so-tidy first.

Three entrepreneurial children have set up a lemonade and cookie stand, and one of them sells a cup, turns to the other two, gathers the jar and they sprint to the nearby ice cream truck. The beauty of a merchant economy warms my heart, almost as much as Randy Arozarena’s solo home run.

Woo strikes out Bryan Reynolds while grill smoke wafts through the air. Nick Gonzales singles and another head of sweat trickles down my back and pools against my towel. I cannot resist the siren song of Lake Washington any longer. I trust Bryan Woo to make it through the sixth inning, as he has for 16 games this season. The trust was warranted. Woo is now 17 for 17 in games when he’s pitched at least six innings.

There are two outs, and the ice cream truck is playing Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. From the right side, Raleigh turns on a low and inside and deposits it into the Mariners bullpen. It is not remarkable, except in the way that every home run is; the explicit, assertive dominance of being so good at a game that the confines of its field of play cannot contain your excellence.

It is also his 35th home run of the season, tying him with Ken Griffey Jr. for the most homers hit before the All-Star break.

“It feels like he hits a home run every game,” said Dan Wilson after the game, echoing the sentiments of the entire league. “And I remember feeling it, as a player, that Junior just felt like he hit a home run every day. With one home run, you’re like ‘Oh man, that’s super majestic.’ And then the next one is maybe even better. It just continues.”

Raleigh is in elite company, but humble as ever. “I’m just trying to do the right thing, to keep it rolling, and if I can try to be like Griffey, that’s a good guy to look up to.” There aren’t many others for Raleigh to truly look up to at this rate.

Eduard Bazardo appears for the 7th while I ponder another swim. The Mountain has become bashful, clouds covering all but its craterous top. Bazardo has a classic Bazardo outing, where it sounds horrific but ultimately appears harmless on the box score. I self-soothe with strawberries from the farmers market. They’re red all the way through, and perfect.

At some point during the game, Arozarena pours a bowl of his Wheaties for Dylan Moore (I assume), who homers in the bottom of the 7th, driving in Donovan Solano for a one-two punch that makes about as much sense as the Deck the Halls fa la la la la las coming from the ice cream truck now. An impromptu Lady Gaga singalong erupts, and the tan and white dog nearby wails in auditory anger.

Trent Thornton appears for the 8th, while the score is 6-0. This is the best way to see Trent Thornton. He returns for the 9th, shutout still intact. I’ve never tried to be a big league catcher. It seems incredibly hard (“Tell ‘em, Wash”), so I’ll leave it at this: Amidst a(nother) historic day for Cal Raleigh, Joey Bart strikes out swinging to end the game.