The Mariners got Rob Refsnyder for his bat. On Wednesday, the 35-year-old gave them his glove too.
Refsnyder, making his first start in the field as a Mariner, tracked down Josh Smith’s first-pitch fastball from Bryan Woo deep into the right-field corner in the third inning and leaped at the wall to steal a home run. The catch kept the game scoreless in the third.
It was a sharp turn for a player Seattle has mostly used as a hitter. In his six previous appearances with the Mariners this season, Refsnyder had logged just two innings in the field and entered Wednesday 0 for 13 at the plate.
The play also fit into a strange little back-and-forth for Seattle’s outfield defense. On Saturday against the Angels, Jo Adell robbed the Mariners of three home runs, leaving Seattle on the wrong end of one of the more frustrating defensive showcases of the week. This time, Refsnyder was the one taking a run off the board.
He had already been asked to fill in as a bat when he came in to pinch-hit for Luke Raley in the top of the seventh inning on Monday night. The more important job on Wednesday, though, was the one Seattle hardly had seen from him before: covering right field and finishing the play at the wall. That is what made the catch stand out. The Mariners did not just get a veteran hitter in Refsnyder. They found out he could still take away a home run when it mattered.
