Cal Raleigh hit two solo home runs as the Seattle Mariners defeated the visiting Boston Red Sox 6-2 on Monday night in the opener of a three-game series.
Julio Rodriguez added a two-run single in a four-run eighth inning as the Mariners pulled away.
The Mariners won for the fifth time in their past six games and finished July with a 17-9 record, tied with Baltimore for the best mark in the majors. Boston's 15-8 record was the month's third best.
Rafael Devers went 3-for-4 for the Red Sox, who took their third consecutive defeat.
Raleigh hit both his homers off right-hander Nick Pivetta (7-6), who was making his first start since beating the Mariners 9-4 on May 16 in Boston. Pivetta gave up three runs on five hits in 7 1/3 innings, with no walks and 10 strikeouts.
Raleigh broke a 1-all tie with one out in the seventh, hammering a 1-1 slider just inside the right field foul pole.
Mariners reliever Matt Brash (6-3) pitched one hitless inning for the victory.
The Red Sox opened the scoring in the first. Jarren Duran drew a leadoff walk from Mariners right-hander George Kirby and stole second as catcher Tom Murphy's throw sailed into center field. Rodriguez's throw skipped past third baseman Eugenio Suarez for another error, and by the time Kirby tracked down the ball in foul territory, Duran made it home.
The Mariners tied it in the second as Raleigh led off by launching a 3-1 fastball deep to right-center field.
Seattle pulled away in the eighth.
With one out, Cade Marlowe doubled to left-center, ending Pivetta's night. Reliever Joe Jacques hit Jose Caballero with a pitch and walked J.P. Crawford to load the bases. Rodriguez grounded a single to right to make it 4-1, and Suarez followed with an RBI single to left.
Raleigh reached on an error to reload the bases, and Teoscar Hernandez's infield single brought home Seattle's final run.
The Red Sox capped the scoring in the ninth as Connor Wong hit a ground-rule double, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Justin Turner's infield single.
Kirby went five innings and allowed one run on four hits. He walked two and fanned seven.
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