Cal Raleigh ends home run drought, hits first of season off Jacob deGrom on heels of historic 60-HR campaign
Cal Raleigh ends home run drought, hits first of season off Jacob deGrom on heels of historic 60-HR campaign
Jason OwensTue, April 7, 2026 at 12:30 AM UTC
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Cal Raleigh led MLB with 60 home runs in a historic 2025 campaign.
Eleven games into the 2026 season, the Seattle Mariners’ slugger has hit his first.
Raleigh battled Texas Rangers ace Jacob deGrom through 11 pitches in the first inning Monday. He sent deGrom’s 12th offering of the at-bat into the right-field bleachers.
The first-inning blast off a 99-mph, full-count fastball gave the Mariners a 1-0 lead. The ultimately lost the game 2-1 .
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Raleigh has struggled mightily on the heels of his historic season. He entered Monday slashing .132/.233/.184 with 4 RBI and, of course, no home runs. He led the AL in both home runs and RBI last season.
The Mariners have gotten off to a slow start as well. After winning the AL West and advancing to Game 7 of the ALCS last season, they fell to 4-7 with the loss Monday.
Raleigh almost hit his first home run Saturday but had it pulled back for an out at the wall. That was part of Angels outfielder Jo Addell’s remarkable defensive night in which he robbed three home runs in a 1-0 Los Angeles win.
There was no robbing Raleigh’s blast off deGrom, which landed deep in the right-field stands. Mariners fans are surely hoping it’s a sign of things to come and the start of a turnaround after a slow start to the season.
Source: “AOL Sports”
