The Seattle Mariners are within the thick of the American League’s pennant race, however they’ve already claimed some {hardware} this season.
Cal Raleigh hit his MLB-leading fiftieth dwelling run of the season because the Mariners clinched the inaugural Vedder Cup with a 9-6 victory in opposition to the visiting San Diego Padres on Monday night time.
The Mariners improved to 4-0 in opposition to San Diego this season, with video games remaining Tuesday and Wednesday in Seattle.
After being interviewed exterior the dugout following the victory, Raleigh was handed the Vedder Cup trophy, a 1963 Fender Telecaster guitar just like the one Eddie Vedder, frontman for the legendary rock band Pearl Jam, himself performs. Raleigh strummed the strings earlier than posing for photographs with the trophy, which Vedder helped design.
George Webb, Pearl Jam’s longtime tools supervisor, introduced the guitar to Seattle. He mentioned Vedder jammed on it for about an hour final week after its arrival from Fender’s customized store.
“He needed to make one thing that doubtlessly may reside within the staff’s clubhouse through the season and be performed by gamers, and appreciated and used,” Webb mentioned. “He would not need it to be a hang-on-the-wall trophy piece. He desires it to be performed. That is his angle with all the pieces. It is a residing, respiration instrument. It sounds nice.”
Writers who had been followers of the band nicknamed the interleague collection the Vedder Cup a few decade in the past, because of the musician’s ties to each Seattle and San Diego, and Main League Baseball made it official this season. With the San Francisco Giants and Athletics in addition to the Los Angeles Angels and Dodgers each being geographic rivals on the West Coast, the Padres and Mariners — who share a spring coaching complicated in Peoria, Ariz. — had been paired when interleague play started in 1997 and have met in all however one season since.
Raleigh kicked off Monday’s present with a solo shot into the second deck within the first inning. He grew to become the primary MLB catcher to achieve the 50-homer plateau and solely the second participant in franchise historical past to take action — Ken Griffey Jr. hit 56 in each 1997 and 1998.
Jorge Polanco went 3-for-4 with a double, dwelling run and 4 RBIs Monday for the Mariners, who scored 5 runs with two outs within the fifth to interrupt a 4-4 tie.
“When you may hit dwelling runs and you may rating form of extra conventionally, I believe that is a very good signal,” supervisor Dan Wilson mentioned. “And that is what the fellows did tonight.”
Gavin Sheets, Jake Cronenworth, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Ramon Laureano homered for San Diego.
“I completely cherished our at-bats tonight,” supervisor Mike Shildt mentioned. “We had site visitors, we had site visitors, we had site visitors … the bat high quality was nice; we simply could not hold that up later within the recreation.”
Tuesday’s matchup is scheduled to function a pair of right-handers within the Padres’ Dylan Stop (6-11, 4.71 ERA) and the Mariners’ Luis Castillo (8-7, 3.57).
Stop, who’s 3-1 this month, is coming off an 8-4 victory in opposition to visiting San Francisco on Thursday. He is 0-0 with a 1.80 ERA in a single earlier begin in opposition to Seattle.
Castillo gave up three runs on 10 hits over 4 innings final Wednesday in an 11-2 loss at Philadelphia. He is 3-3 with a 3.13 ERA in eight profession begins in opposition to the Padres.
–Discipline Stage Media
