Must see: Denard Span’s home-run robbery saved the Mariners
Have a day, Denard Span.
He had three hits while batting third in the Seattle Mariners’ lineup with Scott Servais plugging him there and moving Mitch Haniger down to fifth.
But he might have saved the day in the seventh inning.
The Angels had already scored two runs and Andrelton Simmons almost made it three more with his drive of Nick Vincent’s cutter over the wall in left field.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Bring it back! <a href="https://t.co/sEVfJZrwpm">pic.twitter.com/sEVfJZrwpm</a></p>— MLB (@MLB) <a href="https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1023706545886965761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 29, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Except Span chased it, leaped and brought the ball back for the out. Justin Upton scored from third on the play, but the Mariners lead was still 8-5 instead of potentially 8-7.
“I knew I had a beat on it,” Span told reporters afterward. “It’s like a fifth sense we have in the outfield. You know the wall is getting close, you have that in your peripheral, but you keep your eye on the ball and I kept my eye on the ball.”
Dee Gordon made sure to step in.
“That young boy got hops,” he laughed.
The Mariners would hold on for an 8-5 victory on Sunday at Angel Stadium.
The 34-year-old Span played the majority of his career in center field before mostly switching to left field when he signed with the Rays this past offseason and then was traded to the Mariners.
Span has batted .295 in 46 games with the Mariners since they acquired him and right-hander Alex Colome from the Rays near the end of May. He batted .238 in 43 games with Tampa Bay and is a career .282 hitter.
“Oh my gosh, I’m still amped up,” Ben Gamel said on 710-ESPN radio afterward. He was out of the game at the time with Guillermo Heredia in center field as a defensive replacement.
“Getting that ball – hell of a play.”
But in the eighth inning there was a not-see Mariners play.
With two outs, David Fletcher sent a high fly ball into foul territory and catcher Mike Zunino had it in his glove before he and first baseman Ryon Healy collided.
The ball fell out of Zunino’s glove as they both hit the deck. They each remained on the ground for a few moments before getting back up.
“That was rough — those are two very big dudes,,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said with a laugh. “I didn’t see Healy coming. Healy kind of came out of nowhere.
“They might be a little sore tomorrow but everybody came out OK.”
The next pitch? Another high infield fly for Fletcher. This time Healy waved everyone off by emphatically pumping his chest and yelling. Hilarity ensued. No Mariner was within about 100 feet of him as Healy caught it and flipped the ball to Zunino with a smirk on his way back to the dugout.
“I just dropped the shoulder on him,” Zunino joked. “It was nothing but shoulder into sternum over there.”
This story was originally published July 29, 2018 at 5:03 PM.