Cal Raleigh had no trouble with the slurve.

After the Cincinnati Reds intentionally walked the bases loaded to get to Raleigh, last year’s home-run champ slammed a first-pitch breaking ball from former batterymate Caleb Ferguson 408 feet off the out-of-town scoreboard in left-center field in the seventh inning, powering the Seattle Mariners to an 8-0 victory Monday night.

The three-game interleague series continues Tuesday in Seattle when Reds phenom Chase Burns takes the mound against Mariners veteran Luis Castillo, who started his career in Cincinnati.

On Monday, George Kirby pitched six scoreless innings and Victor Robles went 4-for-4 and scored twice for the Mariners, who moved above .500 and a half-game past Texas and into first place in the American League West.

The big blow was Raleigh’s slam.

Asked if he was surprised the Reds loaded the bases to face him, Raleigh said, “Ah, yeah.”

What made the move all the more surprising was that Reds manager Terry Francona seemingly brought in Ferguson for a left-versus-left matchup with Dominic Canzone before signaling for the free pass. The Mariners had already scored twice in the inning to take a 3-0 lead.

“It’s not a comfortable situation either way,” Francona said. “Saying that, I’d do that every time. We have to try to keep them from scoring more. Second and third, guy with a .990 OPS against lefties, we have to play the infield in. I know what Raleigh’s hitting and he still worries me. But I thought that was our best chance to have them not score. We could play the infield double-play depth. And the worst possible outcome happened.”

Raleigh, who set MLB records for most homers by a catcher and a switch-hitter when he went deep 60 times last season, hasn’t come close to repeating that output.

After a truncated spring while playing in the World Baseball Classic, Raleigh suffered an right oblique injury in mid-May that sent him to the injured list for the first time in his career and cost him more than a month. He entered Monday’s game hitting .163 with nine homers and 29 RBIs.

“It felt good, right?” Raleigh said. “Anytime you get the job done, it’s big. You feel good about yourself, not just because you got it done, but you’re helping the team out. You’re seeing the smiles and the energy in the dugout and the crowd going crazy – it brings back good memories like last year in the playoffs, and that’s where ultimately where we want to get to.”

The Mariners won despite center fielder Julio Rodríguez leaving after five innings after getting hit in the left hamstring by a throw from Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz while legging out a run-scoring infield single.

Mariners manager Dan Wilson said taking out Rodriguez was precautionary and that infielder J.P. Crawford was a late scratch because of a sore wrist.

The Mariners might have inadvertently eliminated one of their potential targets before the Aug. 3 trade deadline when reliever Nick Davila hit Reds infielder/outfielder Spencer Steer in the ribs with a pitch in the seventh inning. Steer played right field in the bottom of the inning before being replaced.

“I knew he was hurting but when he tried to swing, it was really bothering him,” Francona said. “So he’s in there getting X-rays now, they don’t see anything which is encouraging … the doctors are still looking at him.”

Tuesday’s pitching matchup will feature a pair of right-handers in Burns (11-1, 2.54 ERA) against Castillo (3-8, 4.93).

Burns, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 MLB draft out of Wake Forest, has won 10 straight decisions since his only loss, April 10 against the Los Angeles Angels. He has won his past two starts, including an 11-5 decision against visiting Philadelphia on July 8 when he allowed three runs on three hits over five innings. That outing was cut short as he issued six bases on balls with two strikeouts. This will be Burns’ first time facing the Mariners.

Castillo suffered a 7-2 loss at Tampa Bay in his last start July 10. He gave up four runs on nine hits over five innings, with one walk and four strikeouts. Castillo, who pitched for the Reds from 2017-22, is 0-1 with a 12.46 ERA in one career start against them.

-Field Level Media

French superstar Kylian Mbappe became the first player to win multiple FIFA World Cup Golden Boot awards after Spain shut out Argentina 1-0 in the final on Sunday in East Rutherford, N.J.

Mbappe finished with 10 goals for the tournament after scoring twice in France’s 6-4 loss to England on Saturday in the third-place match.

His only competition still active was Lionel Messi, who was searching for his first Golden Boot along with trying to guide Argentina to a second consecutive World Cup. Messi and Argentina defeated Mbappe and France on penalty kicks in the 2022 final in Qatar.

But Argentina could not muster a shot on goal against Spain’s stalwart defense and had just two total shots, both coming late in the match. Messi went scoreless for the third match in a row. He had collected eight goals across the three group-stage matches, the round of 32 and the round of 16.

At 27, Mbappe already can call himself the greatest goal-scorer in World Cup history. His two second-half goals on Saturday pushed him past Messi for the all-time tournament record with 22 in just 22 matches. Messi — the first to break German Miroslav Klose’s career record early in the tournament before Mbappe caught up — stayed at 21 and may have played his final World Cup match Sunday at 39 years old.

Eight of Mbappe’s 10 goals this summer came in braces. He scored twice against Iraq, Senegal, Sweden and finally England. He was the first with 10 goals in a single World Cup since Gerd Muller of Germany in 1970.

Aside from Mbappe, it didn’t come as a surprise that the rest of the awards went to Spanish players after their remarkable run to the country’s second World Cup title.

Spain midfielder Rodri collected the Golden Ball award, given to the best overall player in the tournament. While he didn’t record a single goal or assist in Spain’s eight matches, he completed more passes, ran more distance and had more player involvements than any other player in this year’s tournament.

He also played a key role in heavily limiting Messi’s touches during Spain’s stifling 1-0 win.

Spanish goalkeeper Unai Simon and defender Pau Cubarsi were named winners of the Golden Gloves award and FIFA Best Young Player award, respectively. The pair each played critical roles in La Roja allowing just one goal — a record for a champion team — and 10 shots on goal in eight matches during this World Cup.

Simon finished with seven clean sheets, two more than the previous record for a single World Cup. The 29-year-old’s nine career World Cup clean sheets are one off the record of 10 shared by former France keeper Fabien Barthez and former England keeper Peter Shilton.

Those three awards are decided by FIFA’s Technical Study Group, made up of former professional players, coaches and analysts.

–Field Level Media

Max Kepler delivered the game-winning RBI in the 10th inning as the Arizona Diamondbacks scored eight unanswered runs in an 8-7 win against the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday in Phoenix.

Kepler drove in automatic runner Jorge Barrosa with a one-out double to right field off Luis Gastelum (1-1).

Juan Morrillo (3-4) allowed one hit over 1 1/3 scoreless innings across the ninth and 10th innings to register the win.

Arizona’s rally began in the sixth. Adrian Del Castillo knocked a lead-off double, Ryan Waldschmidt singled and Ketel Marte’s single up the middle drove in Del Castillo to cut the deficit to 7-1.

Andre Pallante walked Geraldo Perdomo to load the bases, and Waldschmidt scored one out later when Pallante walked Gabriel Moreno, ending his outing.

Ryne Stanek came in and retired the first batter before issuing a walk to Tyler Locklear which brought Marte across the plate, narrowing it to 7-3.

Perdomo pulled Arizona within two in the seventh when he followed up Del Castillo’s leadoff walk with a two-out inside-the-park home run to left field on a liner that skipped past St. Louis left fielder Jose Fermin and rolled to the wall.

Nolan Arenado’s two-run home run just over the left field wall in the eighth tied the game at 7.

St. Louis opened a 5-0 lead in the third inning. Lars Nootbaar walked and scored on Blaze Jordan’s triple. JJ Wetherholt singled to bring in Jordan and double the advantage.

Wetherholt went to third on Ivan Herrera’s base hit, and Jordan Walker brought him around with a double to push the lead to 3-0. Alec Burleson’s single to center field allowed Herrera and Walker to come in, extending it to 5-0.

Fermin chased Diamondbacks ace Eduardo Rodriguez, who threw 40 pitches in the frame, with a single. Right-hander Drey Jameson came in and walked Nootbaar before getting Jordan to line out to retire the side, stranding the bases loaded.

The Cardinals made it 7-0 in the fifth. Burleson singled, and Fermin and Nootbaar each walked to load the bases. That ended Jameson’s appearance, replaced by Philip Abner. Jordan (3-for-5, three RBIs) greeted Abner with a single to right that brought in two runners.

Herrera and Burleson each added three hits for St. Louis. Del Castillo and Kepler led Arizona with two hits apiece.

Rodriguez surrendered five runs on seven hits in 2 2/3 innings. Pallante gave up three runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings.

–Field Level Media