Cal Raleigh homers, Mariners sweep White Sox to move into tie atop AL West

CHICAGO – And now comes the hard part.

And now the Mariners will find out if their offensive about-face is for real.

After dispatching the moribund Chicago White Sox on Sunday – wrapping up a series sweep with a 6-3 win – the Mariners take their refreshed outlook to Boston for a matchup between two teams with designs on a postseason push.

The Red Sox won’t make things as easy as the White Sox. But the Mariners fully expect to put forth a competitive effort, something they had so glaringly failed to do for much of their calamitous July.

“We’re getting some momentum here with our club offensively, which is key. It’s really key,” manager Scott Servais said. “Everybody knows how we lean on our pitching. But the guys on offense need to step up. We’re starting to see that.”

Cal Raleigh hit a two-run home run in the first inning, Victor Robles continued to provide a spark at the top of the lineup, and the Mariners (56-51) moved back into a tie atop the AL West with the Astros (55-50).

“We needed to bounce back after a rough series at home against the Angels,” Servais said. “Certainly, the White Sox have been struggling throughout the year, but you’ve still gotta go out and do it. It’s hard to sweep people on the road, so credit to our guys.”

Raleigh’s homer was his team-leading 22nd of the season, the most by any MLB catcher. He also homered Saturday.

“It was a good weekend,” he said. “Obviously, getting those new players, the vibe around here were good. We know we just gotta keep going.”

Raleigh homered Sunday off White Sox starter Garrett Crochet, the American League strikeout leader who has been the subject of rampant trade speculation ahead of Tuesday’s deadline. Crochet was dominant against the Mariners last month in Seattle, striking out a career-high 13 over seven innings.

Sunday, the Mariners scored five runs off Crochet – benefiting from two third-inning errors – who was pulled after three innings and 64 pitches.

It was Raleigh’s 10th homer of the season hitting right-handed. He has 12 from the left side, the only MLB player with double-digit home runs from both sides.

Robles had another multi-hit game, going 2 for 5, and Randy Arozarena had had two infield singles and a walk in his second game with the Mariners.

Raleigh drove in Robles in the fourth inning to extend the Mariners’ lead to 2-1.

Rookie Leo Rivas, getting a rare start at shortstop, picked up his first big-league RBI off Crochet in the second inning when he drove in Dylan Moore from third base on a fielder’s choice.

“We jumped on them early all three games,” Raleigh said. “We had a good plan and didn’t overcomplicate it. Sometimes when you try to combat everything, you’re not able to hit the one mistake that you get per at-bat, if you do get one. We did a good job of simplifying it in this series.”

Bryce Miller took a 111-mph hit off of his right calf early in the game but remained in the game and pitched effectively into the seventh inning. He was chased after allowing a two-run homer to Paul DeJong.

“I don’t ever want to come out of the game,” Miller said. “So as long as I can go, I’m going to keep going.”

Miller had allowed three runs on seven hits with no walks and six strikeouts.

New Mariners reliever Yimi Garcia, acquired in a trade from Toronto on Friday, needed just seven pitches to retire the White Sox in the eighth inning. In his first 23 hours with the Mariners, he made two relief appearance and retired all six batters he faced.

Andres Muñoz closed it out in the ninth for his 18th save. The All-Star closer hasn’t allowed a hit in his last 8.1 innings and hasn’t allowed a run in his last 10.1 innings.

The White Sox (27-81) have lost 14 in a row. Incredibly, it’s their second 14-game losing streak of the season, and they’re on pace to finish with the worst record of any team in modern MLB history.

The Mariners figure to face a much stiffer challenge as they head to Boston to start a three-game series on Monday. The Mariners have Logan Gilbert, Luis Castillo and George Kirby lined up to start the three games against the Red Sox, who entered Sunday only one game out of an AL wild card position.

NOTES

• Jorge Polanco was removed from the game late. Servais said the veteran second baseman has been playing through a minor knee injury, and given the Mariners’ lead at the time Servais wanted to get Polanco off his feet.

• Class AA catcher Harry Ford, one of the Mariners’ top prospects, has been placed on the minor-league injured list with concussion symptoms after taking a foul ball off his facemask.

• The Mariners are known to have interest in Tampa Bay Rays first baseman Yandy Diaz, with Tuesday’s trade deadline approaching. The reigning AL batting champ, Diaz will turn 33 next month, and his numbers are down a bit this season — seemingly a ripe time for the perpetually reshuffling Rays to trade him.

Diaz, a one-time All-Star, is batting .272 with 21 doubles, nine home runs and 47 RBIs.