SEATTLE -- Mired in the worst rut of his MVP-caliber season, “Big Dumper” had turned into a big slumper. But Cal Raleigh might have broken out of it in a huge way on Friday night.

The Mariners’ slugging catcher crushed his 43rd homer of the season that was among his most dramatic, lifting a sweeper from leverage reliever Griffin Jax for a three-run, go-ahead homer with two outs in the eighth inning, sending Seattle to a 3-2 victory over the Rays at T-Mobile Park.

The Mariners are 7-1 since the Trade Deadline but remained 1 1/2 games behind Houston for first place in the American League West , after the Astros beat the Yankees in extra innings earlier.

Raleigh had been in a funk since his epic All-Star Week in Atlanta, where he won the Home Run Derby and was arguably the star o

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