Cal Raleigh hits historic 50th HR; Padres come up short in Vedder Cup to Mariners

SEATTLE - Kicking off the second installment of the Vedder Cup on Monday, the San Diego Padres broke down to the Seattle Mariners, 9-6 at T-Mobile Park and drop to second place in the NL West. 

After holding the Dodgers' lineup to a .088 clip (5-for-57) through the first two games, Padres' pitchers failed to keep the Mariners off the bags. The Mariners finished with 10 hits and went 4-for-10 with RISP, including a pair of home runs and three players recording multi-hits.

And for a second consecutive day, the Padres surrendered a five run inning during the fifth, which cost them their stakes of staying tied for first place in the division, following the Dodgers 7-0 win over the Reds. 

Despite the fact the Padres matched the Mariners with 10 hits and connected on four home runs, which was third time doing so, they had eight of their starting nine strikeout. The four of the first five of the order were fanned twice. 

"I absolutely loved our at-bats tonight," Padres manager Mike Shildt said. "They have a good staff as well. The starter got a nice arm and I love our approach against him... I just love our at-bats the whole game."

LHP JP Sears, who lost his first two meetings against the Mariners while on the Athletics, allowed an early solo shot to none other than Cal Raleigh for his historic 50th homer on the season. For Raleigh, he is now the first catcher in Major League history to homer 50 times in a season and is just the second Mariner to hit that number (Ken Griffey Jr. - 1997 & 1998). 

The Padres immediately fired back with three home runs during the second inning, each between outs, by Gavin Sheets (18), Jake Cronenworth (10) and Fernando Tatis Jr.(18), who ended a 27-game HR drought. The last long ball Tatis Jr. recorded happened on July 24 against the Cardinals.

Sears allowed another couple runs across in the bottom half of the frame, giving up his second homer to Jorge Polanco, who was a triple shy of the cycle, on a 79 mph sweeper outside the zone that carried to left field. The lefty found himself in a no-out bases loaded jam, which led the Mariners to tie the game 4-4 on 4-6-3 double-play against Polanco. 

"I think he made a few mistakes and they made him pay for it," Shildt said. I thought he made a lot of quality pitches, thought his stuff looked good. He just when he missed, they made him pay." 

Sears, after forcing the DP, was replaced by rookie RHP David Morgan, who struck out the final batter of the inning on a 99 mph four-seam fastball. 

Morgan returned to the mound in the fifth inning and coughed up his worst outing in his big league career that left the Padres trailing 9-4. The 25-year-old, who was an out away from getting out the frame before Wandy Peralta stepped in, was charged for 5 earned runs on two hits, two walks and plunked Raleigh on the foot.

Outfielder Ramón Laureano brought the Friars another run closer after connecting on a slider over the middle of the plate for a lead-off solo shot to left field. He has now earned 20 HR this year and hit his fifth since joining the Padres. 

San Diego scored their last run during the ninth inning on a RBI groundout by Luis Arraez that brought in INF Will Wagner, who was called up on Sunday from Triple A El Paso to hold Jackson Merrill's position on the active roster.

Sears, in his third start in the Brown and Gold, pitched 3 ⅔ innings, giving up three earned runs, five hits, a walk and struck out a pair. He owns a 8-10 record with a 5.01 ERA.