CHICAGO -- By the time Luke Raley stepped into the batter’s box in the seventh inning, he had already had the most productive game of his Major League career. But he was nowhere near close to being finished.
After he came around to step on home plate less than a minute later, Raley had a stat line that will be hard for anyone to beat for the rest of the 2026 season.
Raley not only hit a grand slam, but added on with a clutch three-run homer to power the Mariners to a 12-8 win over the White Sox on Friday night at Rate Field. His seven RBIs are the most by any big leaguer this season.
Raley’s career high before Friday? Three. He overtook that with one swing in the third. Raley is the first Mariner since Nelson Cruz in 2016 to hit both a grand slam and three-run homer in the same game.
“Rales is an incredibly hard worker,” manager Dan Wilson said. “You know he’s going to put in a lot of work and a lot of time, and he’s been able to do that. He’s found something that’s really helping him, and that’s huge. That’s what you hope for. … He’s always going to go the extra mile to try and find it. Really happy to see that that’s paying off for him.”
A few weeks ago, a game like this would be hard to imagine for Raley. After coming out of the gate as hot as any hitter in baseball with three homers in four March games, the 31-year-old outfielder hit just two in April with a .698 OPS.
That led a frustrated Raley to seek out senior director of hitting strategy, and Hall of Famer, Edgar Martínez, for advice. The end result of the conversation was a combination of mechanical and mental changes, and the success Raley has had since has been nothing but extraordinary.
In just five May games, Raley has clobbered three homers -- including a big one in Monday’s comeback victory -- while driving in 10 runs with a .364 average and 1.599 OPS.
“That’s why we talk and we make adjustments,” Raley said. “I definitely feel better and more confident at the plate right now, and that’s a good thing.”
Wilson added: “It’s not only the message [Martinez] brings, but it’s the messenger. And I think that’s what Rales is alluding too. He has a way of making it simple. When you can make it simple for guys, it really helps.”
Raley played in just 73 games last season while battling back and oblique injuries, eventually losing his job to Dominic Canzone while away on rehab. But the 2023 version of Raley, which hit a career-high 22 homers, is more like the player the Mariners are getting right now.
In a lineup full of All-Stars such as Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodríguez, Josh Naylor and Randy Arozarena, who are all capable of hitting 25 or more homers -- it’s Raley who leads the team with eight long balls nearly 40 games into the season.
“It’s the best. Rales, as hard as he plays the game, shows up every single day and does everything possible for our team,” said Emerson Hancock, who recovered from a four-run third to allow only one other run. “A night like tonight, couldn’t be happier for him. Really good swings on the ball. Plays extremely hard in the outfield. It was huge for our team tonight.”
Both of Raley’s homers came with runners on and two outs, which is something that has been missing from the Mariners’ offense this season. Entering Friday, only Texas (139) and Toronto (147) had scored fewer runs in the AL than Seattle (153).
A 12-run outburst -- which included homers from Naylor and Rodríguez as well -- can start to change that.
“In the past, getting traffic wasn’t the problem. It was getting the traffic in,” Wilson said. “And tonight we were able to do that in a lot of big ways, and with two outs it certainly stings a little bit more.”
In addition to Raley’s big night, the Mariners (19-20) got Brendan Donovan (1-for-5) back from the injured list and Raleigh (0-for-5) played catcher for the first time since missing three games earlier this week.
Both the team and Raley are hoping to carry consistency throughout May as the club looks toward getting back to the winning ways that brought them a win away from the World Series just a season ago.
That’s what Raley was most focused on postgame -- not the eye-popping stat line.
“We have a really good lineup,” Raley said. “We just got to stay healthy, stay on the field and hopefully we have more games like today.”