The upper-hand in the American League West now belongs to the Seattle Mariners.

Cal Raleigh broke Seattle’s franchise record with his 57th home run, George Kirby pitched six shutout innings and the Mariners held on to beat the Houston Astros 6-4 in the second game of their pivotal series on Friday.

Seattle Mariners 6, Houston Astros 4: Box Score

As a result, the Mariners (86-69) clinched the tiebreaker with Houston for the playoffs and moved to two games up in the AL West. Their lead is essentially three games now with the tiebreaker, and Saturday’s win knocked Houston out of a playoff spot for now. The Astros fell into a tie for the third wild card berth with the Cleveland Guardians, but Cleveland owns the tiebreaker.

Seattle also moved one game in front of Detroit for the No. 2 seed and a first-round bye in the AL playoffs – another situation where the Mariners hold the tiebreaker and thus have another game tacked on to that lead.

The “magic number” for the Seattle to clinch the division over Houston is five, meaning any combination of Mariners wins or Astros losses that add up to five. The number would shrink to three with a win on Sunday.

Five is also the club’s “magic number” to clinch any playoff berth. The five-game “magic number” applies to both Houston and Cleveland in that scenario.

It was all Mariners early on as they got to Houston starter Framber Valdez and chased the two-time All-Star in the fifth inning.

Eugenio Suárez hit an RBI double to give Seattle the lead in the first inning for a second straight night, and Victor Robles made it 2-0 with a sac fly in the second.

Raleigh stepped up to the plate in the third and belted a record-setting blast, a solo shot to right-center field, passing Ken Griffey Jr. for Seattle’s single-season record. His 57 home runs lead baseball and are tied for 17th all-time on the single-season list.

Cal Raleigh passes Griffey for Mariners’ single-season HR record

Josh Naylor drew a bases-loaded walk in the fourth to chase Valdez and Dominic Canzone had an RBI single off Jayden Murray for two critical insurance runs in the fifth to go up 5-0. Jorge Polanco added an RBI double in the seventh.

The Astros got back into it the bottom of the seventh when Jeremy Peña hit a grand slam off Carlos Vargas. They threatened again with runners on second and third and one out in the eighth, but Gabe Speier ended the threat with a strikeout of pinch-hitter Christian Walker.

With the Astros threatening again with runners on first and second and one out in the ninth, Robles made a spectacular diving grab in right-center field and doubled off Jake Meyers at second base to end the game.

Kirby (10-7) struck out seven batters and allowed five hits. The right-hander struck out Carlos Correa and Isaac Paredes before getting a groundout to escape a no-out jam with runners on first and third in the sixth.

Andrés Muñoz pitched the ninth to earn his 37th save.

Up next

The Mariners finish their three-game series with the Astros at 4 p.m. Sunday. Right-hander Logan Gilbert (5-6, 3.63 ERA) is set to face Houston right-hander Jason Alexander (4-1, 4.04). Radio coverage begins with the pregame show at 3 p.m. on the Seattle Sports app and 770 AM.

More on the Seattle Mariners

• The latest on Mariners starter Bryan Woo’s injury
• Colt Emerson showcasing ‘unique’ talent in Triple-A
• Lefko: Franchise-defining moment awaits the Mariners
• How Seattle Mariners, Astros match up on mound for key series
• Canzone’s breakout a key to first-place Mariners’ success