Star Slugger Makes History With Big Performance Against Red Sox

One of this season’s biggest standouts continued his torrid first half at the Boston Red Sox’s expense.

Following consecutive shutout wins, Boston fell 8-0 to the Seattle Mariners on Tuesday night. Cal Raleigh again powered Seattle’s offense, going 3-for-4 with a second-inning grand slam off Walker Buehler.

OptaSTATS noted a collection of single-game feats nobody has ever accomplished since MLB made RBI an official stat in 1920. Raleigh became the first player to collect six RBI, hit a grand slam, steal a base and tally more hits than the opposing team.

The Red Sox registered two hits on singles from Marcelo Mayer and Nate Eaton.

That wasn’t Raleigh’s only rare accomplishment. Per MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer, he was also the first catcher in almost a decade to tally three hits, a grand slam and a steal in the same game.

No catcher had posted that stat line since Buster Posey on June 19, 2015. The San Francisco Giants general manager already entrenched himself in Red Sox conversations this week by acquiring Rafael Devers.

In a world without Aaron Judge, Raleigh would be an early front-runner to win this year’s American League MVP award. He surpassed the New York Yankees star with his MLB-leading 27th home run on Tuesday and ranks second behind Judge in WAR (4.4), ISO (.357) and weighted runs created plus (181).

At his current pace, Raleigh could become the first catcher to ever launch 50 home runs in a season. Salvador Perez broke Johnny Bench’s 50-year record when hitting 48 long balls in 2021.

Raleigh has also shown surprising skills on the basepaths. The 28-year-old has stolen eight bases, leading all catchers and exceeding his career tally (seven) entering 2025.

Unlike most of his catching peers, Raleigh has played in all but one game this season. That diminishes the chances of Seattle giving him an afternoon off when the Mariners and Red Sox conclude their series on Wednesday at 4:10 p.m. ET.