Woo wows, Raleigh slams in Mariners' rout of Red Sox

SEATTLE -- The unison between Cal Raleigh and Bryan Woo extends well beyond being just batterymates.

The two were roommates last season, have become incredibly close friends, and as such, can push each other's buttons -- whether it’s metaphorically, perhaps for leaving dirty dishes in the sink, or quite literally, such as on PitchCom to call the masterpiece that was delivered in the Mariners’ 8-0 win over the Red Sox on Tuesday night at T-Mobile Park.

Woo wowed with seven shutout innings, slicing his way in and out of the strike zone with his two- and four-seam fastballs that made Boston look baffled, while Raleigh overwhelmed Red Sox pitching with a career-high-tying six RBIs, including a second-inning grand slam that gave his starter plenty of breathing room.

It was a borderline career night for each, who continued to bolster their All-Star bids for the July 15 Midsummer Classic in Atlanta. And their efforts helped Seattle clinch a winning homestand on the heels of a 1-5 road trip.

“That relationship, you can't emphasize it enough,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said, “just understanding who your pitcher is.”

As Woo was settling into cruise control, Raleigh demolished the sky-high slam, which was his 27th homer of the season and 120th of his career, passing Mitch Haniger for 10th most in franchise history.

• Big Thumper: Raleigh's path to HR history

And after a two-run double in the fourth, Raleigh swiped third base for his eighth of the season, breaking a tie he held with Wilson for the most stolen bases in a season by a catcher.

“I should have went like Rickey Henderson and just took the bag,” joked Raleigh, who became MLB’s first catcher since Buster Posey on June 19, 2015, to have three or more hits with a grand slam and a stolen base in a single game.

He’ll look to join Wilson as the only Mariners backstops ever to play in a Midsummer Classic -- potentially as the first to start, as Raleigh led all AL catchers in the recent ballot update and was second to only Aaron Judge in the overall AL vote total.

“I’ve definitely seen a lot more T-shirts of him lately, for sure,” Woo joked while wearing one of his own.

On a deeper level, Raleigh’s slam -- one that he attacked with a 43-degree launch angle and that hung for a whopping 6.4 seconds -- was another example of how out-front of the baseball he’s been with his swing.

Raleigh has always had pull-side power -- leading all catchers in homers in each of the past three seasons -- but he’s leveraging it even more this season. And it’s a good reason why he’ll probably be invited to participate in the Home Run Derby.

“I wouldn’t say that I'm trying to pull the ball in the air,” Raleigh said. “I think I'm just trying to ... have that baseline of what I'm trying to do up there. And I think also just focusing more on my approach and what I'm trying to do rather than what the pitcher is trying to do. Sometimes, we can get caught up in everything they're trying to do and their pitches and locations, and we forget about what we're trying to accomplish. And I think that's kind of the difference.”

In between his latest offensive triumph -- in which he also finished a triple shy of the cycle -- Raleigh had a front-row seat for the best start of the season from Woo, who didn’t surrender a hit until rookie Marcelo Mayer laced a leadoff single in the fifth.

It’d be the only knock all night against Woo, who also had two walks and hit a batter. He’s now cleared the sixth inning in each of his 14 starts this year, making him MLB’s only pitcher with a streak that long this season and the Mariners’ first since Félix Hernández in 2014. “The King” finished runner-up in the AL Cy Young Award voting that season.

“The chemistry between us has been great,” Woo said of Raleigh. “It's always growing. I think last year, it took a lot of strides, but I think I learned a lot more from him. He's got a very old-school way of going about the game and his business, and I feel like that resonates with me pretty well in terms of just, you want to have that kind of workman's mentality and never be satisfied.”

In a blue-collar way, two close confidantes authored another epic chapter in their friendship -- a formula conducive to victory.