Last Night in Baseball: Cal Raleigh’s 42nd Homer Broke a Record

There is always baseball happening — almost too much baseball for one person to follow themselves.

Don’t worry, we’re here to help you by figuring out what you missed but shouldn’t have. Here are all the best moments from last night in Major League Baseball:

Raleigh sets a new homer mark

There were just three MLB games on Thursday, as the league allowed the majority of teams to work the phones all day before the trade deadline, but the contests we did get offered up plenty. For instance, the Mariners took on the Rangers, and Cal Raleigh hit his MLB-leading 42nd homer of the season.

That was notable for more than just Raleigh extending that lead, however: it broke a tie with Todd Hundley for the most home runs ever by a switch-hitting catcher. Raleigh is now the all-time leader in that category, and every dinger means he’s moved that record even further out of reach.

Raleigh has additional switch-hitting and backstop-related homer records to chase in the last two months of the 2025 season, as well. Salvador Perez’s 2021 featured 48 homers, a record for a catcher — Raleigh is seven blasts shy of taking that record for himself with 52 games to go in the season. Mickey Mantle is the only switch-hitter ever with a 50-homer season — he has both of them, in fact — with the record being his 54 in 1961. Raleigh is, as of Friday morning, on pace for 62 homers, which would shatter Mantle’s record… and tie Aaron Judge’s AL-record 62 shots from 2022.

Big Dumper might not break or match all of these records, but the possibility is there. If he has another hot streak in him anything like some of those he’s already had when he clustered a ton of homers together this summer then… well, that’s why they play the games, isn’t it?

Suárez debuts for Seattle (again)

Wasn’t this guy just on the Mariners? Eugenio Suárez returned to Seattle, after one-and-a-half seasons away with the Diamondbacks. His arrival, per MLB, means that the Mariners now boast only the second-ever pair of 35-homer hitters on a team as of August 1, joining Roger Maris and the aforementioned Mantle in their 1961 campaign with the Yankees. Judge, of course, broke Maris’ record of 61 from ‘61 in 2022. It’s all connected!

Anyway, Suárez didn’t go yard in his re-debut, but he did lace a double and score a run in what would turn out to be a 6-0 rout of the Rangers. 

What a catch! 

“Another highlight from the Seattle game?” you say? Did you not see the part where there were just three games on Thursday? Plus, this catch is sick, and would be here regardless. Let’s thank the Mariners for giving both of us so much to work with.

Julio Rodríguez is certainly known for his glove, but even with that, this was surprising. Look at how far he ranged! And that slide! He didn’t lose the ball at the point of impact, either, which could have easily happened — how many triples have you seen come about because a ball didn’t stay in a glove that was sliding on the ground along with the player it was attached to?

The Reds and Braves put on a show

Things were pretty normal in Cincinnati through seven innings. The two were tied up at 3-3, with Elly De La Cruz breaking his July-long homer drought in the bottom of the third for his 19th of the year, but it was otherwise unremarkable. 

And then the eighth inning happened. Ozzie Albies opened the inning with a single off of Reds’ reliever Graham Ashcraft, who then gave up another single to Sean Murphy. Sam Moll would come on in relief, but allowed a bunt single to Michael Harris II to load the bases. Eli White would then hit another single, scoring Albies. There were still no outs yet.

Luke Williams then hit a double to plate Murphy and Harris, putting the Braves up 6-3. Jurickson Profar would strike out, but this was merely a pause for Atlanta: Matt Olson would reach on a fielder’s choice that scored their seventh run of the game and fourth of the inning. The Reds would relieve Moll with Lyon Richardson. It changed nothing.

Marcell Ozuna walked, loading the bases. Albies, who led off the inning, picked up his second single of the eighth, this one driving in Olson and Riley — 10-3, Braves. Murphy would then double to drive in Osuna, forcing the Reds to call in Brent Suter to pitch. Suter was the one Reds’ pitcher of the inning to not give up a run nor even a baserunner, as he struck out Harris and then got White to fly out. It was already 11-3 Braves at this point, though — bad news for the Reds.

Or! An opportunity to score eight runs of their own in the bottom of the frame. No, really. Cincinnati pounded Atlanta’s pitchers in the same way — starting with Ke’Bryan Hayes’ first homer as a Red after they dealt for him before the deadline, a three-run shot to cut the lead to 11-6.

Cincinnati would keep at it, and the eighth inning would end with the teams once again all tied up, just as they were when it started, only with 16 more runs between them and after both clubs had burned through most of their bullpens. As MLB’s Sarah Langs pointed out, it was just the third time in MLB history that two teams scored at least eight runs a piece in a single inning, with the last of those coming in 2007.

The Braves would inevitably end up winning by scoring in the 10th on a sac fly by Ozuna, which was somehow also the only other run in the game after the explosive eighth. Maybe everyone was a little too tired.

Stanton went boom

It’s been done a little quietly, but Giancarlo Stanton is having his best season in years. While his 2025 got off to a late start due to a severe case of tennis elbow in both arms, in the 32 games he has played, he’s got eight homers and a line of .270/.341/.514, which would be the best numbers he’s put up since 2021 if they were to hold steady for the next two months. 

That eighth homer? Not so quiet.

When Stanton is healthy, he hits the ball as hard as basically anyone. What a shot. The Yankees — after a very lengthy rain delay — ended up defeating the Rays, 7-4. They enter August at 60-49, 3.5 back of the Blue Jays in the AL East, but 2.5 up in the wild card race. 

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