Mariners rookie Kyle Lewis’ grand slam-robbing catch draws comparisons to Ken Griffey Jr.
When Kyle Lewis’ feet finally touched back down on the warning track dirt, the ballpark rumbled around him.
The relievers in the Mariners bullpen, who got the closest look at what will surely be the play of the season in Seattle, started pounding on the yellow padding on top of the center field fence and cheered when Lewis came down with the ball.
Jose Marmolejos, playing left field for the night, sprinted toward his fellow rookie, both hands pumped in the air in celebration.
Roars from the Mariners dugout echoed across an empty T-Mobile Park as Lewis made his way back across the outfield.
If this were a normal season, with tens of thousands of fans in the seats, the ballpark would have completely erupted when the 25-year-old rookie sensation made the catch.
“Everybody was hyped,” Lewis said said during a postgame video call Monday after the Mariners split a doubleheader with the A’s.
No one was more hyped than Lewis was to bring that baseball back from the far reaches of center field.
Minutes earlier, the Mariners had wrapped up an exciting, come-from-behind win over the American League West leaders in the first game of the doubleheader.
In the first inning of the second game inside the hazy ballpark, the A’s loaded the bases against Jimmy Yacabonis, who was making a spot start for Seattle. Oakland already had one run across in the frame and was in prime position to break the game open early.
Roman Laureano crushed a slider deep to center that seemed it would easily clear the wall, but Lewis sprinted to the warning track, planted both feet and jumped high into the air, extended his glove well over the top of the fence and brought the ball back into the yard.
“I knew I was going to have a chance off the bat,” Lewis said. “A lot of balls in that left center gap, it gets pretty deep back there, so I knew I was going to have a chance if I could time it up right, and I was able to get back there, time it up right and make the play.
“That was a huge moment, and I was hoping that would be able to propel us to another win, so I was excited.”
Lewis galloped back through the outfield grass, the ball securely in his glove, pounded a fist to his chest and let out a scream.
“We’re trying to win games, man, and after we came in and won an emotional Game 1, to come back in the first inning and save four runs, that just was an overflow of emotion for me,” he said.
Yacabonis was visibly fired up by the catch. Mariners manager Scott Servais was sure the jump was high enough to equate to a two-handed dunk. Relievers sitting in the bullpen, like Kendall Graveman and Erik Swanson, looked mesmerized by the play in photos documenting the moment. And social media, of course, went into a frenzy.
“Our faces say it all ... this dude is something else,” Swanson wrote on Twitter alongside a photo taken by TNT photographer Josh Bessex, showing Lewis’ shoulders level with the top of the wall.
Even “The Kid,” who made stunning catches in center field for so many years in Seattle, checked in on Instagram. The catch, after all, drew immediate comparisons across social media and beyond.
Between innings, the Mariners played Lewis’ catch side-by-side with the wall-jumping grab Ken Griffey Jr. made at Yankee Stadium in 1990 to rob Jesse Barfield of a home run, on the video board in center.
“Humbling comparison, man,” Lewis said. “A center fielder being able to make plays I think is just, in and of itself, a great moment to be able to make plays, and something I take pride in, especially wearing that Seattle uniform because we know who the legend is out there.
“To be able to go out there and make some plays is big for me. Hopefully I can just continue to build on that defensively to be a solid, solid reliable defender, and then as well at the plate because you know that guy did it all.
“It’s cool to see those comparisons. I just take them in stride and keep it going so I can continue to write my story. Everybody’s got their own story to write and I’ve got mine.”
Lewis’ burgeoning story has been the most exciting to watch unfold this summer in Seattle. Following a stellar call-up with the Mariners last September, the young outfielder has only continued to turn heads both in the outfield and at the plate.
“When you have that type of talent, and it’s playing out on the big stage, it’s awesome to see,” Servais said. “Excited to continue to watch that, and watch him continue to grow here over the next few years.”
Lewis remains a leading contender for the AL Rookie of the Year award with two weeks to play in the regular season, slashing at .295/.390/.494 with three doubles, 10 homers, 27 RBI, 27 walks to 52 strikeouts and three stolen bases through 47 games.
After a slower stretch at the plate the past two weeks, Lewis finished 2-for-5 in Monday’s doubleheader with a two-run homer, double, three RBI and two walks, including patiently drawing a walk on four pitches in the first game to drive in the winning run.
“Early in the year sometimes I would homer early in a game, get swing happy, get greedy, start chasing, so I just really had that in the back of my mind, and reset it back down to square one — get a good pitch to hit,” Lewis said. “Bases loaded, he had just walked Ty (France), so I definitely didn’t want to expand and give him something extra. It ended up working out and ended up getting a walk, and so that was huge.
“I’m just trying to learn from each at-bat throughout the season, learn from different times where I may have went up there with the wrong mindset, so that when I get up there the next time I can put a better at-bat together.”
The Mariners have been thrilled with the consistency not only at the plate, but in center field, after Lewis showed he could handle the role during summer camp. Lewis gets to the ballpark early and puts in work pregame with outfielders coach Joe Thurston, working on everything from building arm strength, to positioning correctly, to the jumps at the wall that led to Monday’s stunning grab.
“We’ve been working on that a lot, trying to time up the walls, the angles of the walls and the way the ball comes down when it’s that high up in the air,” Lewis said. “I’ve been getting better at that, and hopefully continue to get better at that so I can put my best effort on all of them, and take a lot of pride in doing that.”
This story was originally published September 14, 2020 at 6:13 PM.
