Right fielder Rob Refsnyder made a standout defensive play in the Seattle Mariners’ 3-0 loss to the Texas Rangers on April 8, drawing attention from both teammates and opponents. Starting pitcher Bryan Woo showed his surprise after Refsnyder robbed Josh Smith of a third-inning home run, tipping his cap in appreciation. Smith, who was denied what would have been his first homer of the season, joked after the game that he “wanted to cry” over the catch.
The play occurred during a scoreless tie when Smith hit a deep fly ball down the right-field line. Refsnyder sprinted across 115 feet and leaped at the wall to make the catch. Woo said, “Unbelievable — definitely one of the best catches I’ve ever seen, the distance he covered, and being able to track that down all the way over, and then also, it’s such a high fence and a weird corner.”
Despite Refsnyder’s effort, Seattle’s offensive struggles continued as they were swept by Texas at Globe Life Field. The team has now lost five consecutive games. Manager Dan Wilson said, “This is a tough one — offensively, again, just not much going on offensively. We were able to get a little bit of traffic, but we were not able to move it along. Not enough consistency on the offensive side.”
The Mariners left Texas ranked last in several American League batting categories: team average (.184), on-base percentage (.280), and slugging percentage (.301). At game’s end they were also Major League Baseball’s only team hitting below .200 with an OPS under .600.
Third baseman Brendan Donovan remains one of few productive hitters for Seattle with an OPS of 1.027 so far this season. He said about their slump: “You’re going to go through lulls like this… Personally, I’d rather us go through it now… establish our identity.” Donovan added that stringing together hits could help turn things around.
Woo pitched five innings in Wednesday’s loss with two strikeouts and allowed three runs (two unearned). Afterward he said about breaking out of their losing streak: “Luckily it’s April and not September… But you can’t get there unless you win the games that you need to win… it’s not the end of the world but we still need to find a way to pick it up.” Wilson concluded after another shutout defeat: “We’ve got some work to do, there’s no doubt about it.”
