Luke Raley's monster game carries Mariners past White Sox

Ryan Divish, The Seattle Times on May 8, 2026

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

CHICAGO — Just over a week ago, Luke Raley was feeling the cruel side of baseball like a kick to his gut. He was scuffling at the plate. His timing and rhythm felt off with his swing. He was missing pitches that he knew he should hit.

In the final game of the previous road trip, Raley struck out three times in four plate appearances vs. the Twins, making him hitless in his last 21 plate appearances. He had just one hit — a homer — in his previous 29 trips to the plate with two walks and 13 strikeouts.

In a game of failure, he was failing too much.

Eight days later, Raley delivered his best game as a member of the Mariners. He smashed a pair of homers, including his first career grand slam, and drove in a career-high seven runs to lead Seattle to a 12-8 win over the Chicago White Sox on Friday night at Rate Field.

The Mariners hit four homers in the game with Julio Rodríguez and Josh Naylor adding long balls for a season-high in runs scored.

The run support was necessary with Emerson Hancock allowing a season-high five runs in his outing, but still doing enough to get the victory.

With two outs in the third inning of a 1-1 game, the Mariners loaded the bases on White Sox starter Sean Burke on singles by Naylor and Randy Arozarena and a walk from J.P. Crawford. Raley immediately fell behind 0-2 on a pair of swinging strikes. But instead of seeing if Raley would chase a pitch out of the zone, Burke fired a fastball that was essentially in the middle of the plate. Raley capitalized on the mistake, sending a low, screaming line drive over the wall in right field for his first career grand slam and a 5-1 lead for Seattle.

That big lead was lost in the bottom of the third when Hancock, who has been one of the Mariners most consistent strike throwers this season, couldn’t find the strike zone. He walked the first batter of the inning — No. 8 hitter Tristan Peters. With one out, he gave up an RBI single to Sam Antonacci and then walked Munetaka Murakami, who had homered off him in the first inning, and Miguel Vargas to load the bases.

If three walks in an inning seemed odd for Hancock, it’s because he hadn’t walked more than two batters in his seven previous starts this season.

Colson Montgomery unloaded them with a sinking line drive to the gap that got past Rodríguez, who made a half sliding/half diving attempt for a three-run double that tied the game at 5-5.

Rodríguez gave the Mariners the lead for good in the fifth inning, launching a solo homer to deep left-center.

In the seventh inning, Raley broke the game open … again … with two outs.

Arozarena singled to right and Crawford worked a walk, giving Raley a chance to face right-handed reliever Tyler Davis.

Raley took advantage of a 2-1 fastball left in the middle of the plate, sending another rocket over the wall in right field.

It was his first multi-homer game since April 30, 2023, when he hit a pair of homers for the Rays at Rate Field of all places.