Kansas City Royals' Kauffman Stadium was up on its feet to witness Cal Raleigh hitting back-to-back home runs in the third and fourth innings to achieve two historic feats on the same night.
The Seattle Mariners catcher went deep against Michael Wacha, batting left-handed, to break the longstanding record of Mickey Mantle from 1961. Mantle hit 54 home runs that year as a switch hitter, Raleigh broke that record by hitting his 55th home run on a breaking ball that went rows back in the right field.
In his very next at-bat in the fifth inning against Royals reliever Daniel Lynch IV, he went the yard again for the 56th home run of the season. This time, he was batting right-handed. The towering hit tied him with Mariners legend Ken Griffey Jr., who hit 56 home runs in 1997 to set a standard for the most home runs in a single season for the franchise. In 1998, he matched the mark. Now, 27 years later, the mark has been matched one more time.
Cal Raleigh has an opportunity to break HR record tonight itself
The ongoing game between the Mariners and Royals is still in the top of the seventh inning with the Mariners leading the slugfest 10-3. This means, Raliegh will be on the plate for at least one more time, allowing him to break the 56 home run Mariners' franchise mark tonight.
Raleigh's 56 home runs have now set him apart among league leaders. The next best major league hitter is Kyle Schwarber, who has hit 53 this season so far. NL and AL MVP favorites Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge follow them up with 48 and 49, respectively.
It remains to be seen if Raleigh's historic season results in AL MVP at the end of the regular season.