These are the Mariners' Top 10 plays of the '10s

SEATTLE -- When it comes to the top plays of the decade, we tend to focus on big home runs or walk-off hits. But baseball players spend more time in the field than they do at the plate, and there were plenty of Mariners’ highlights with the gloves in the past 10 years.

Here are our Top 10 Mariners’ defensive plays of the decade:

1. Dee still doesn’t believe this one
June 8, 2012

Shortstop Brendan Ryan was a defensive wizard in his three seasons in Seattle (2011-13), and many of his plays were special. But the most timely -- and impactful -- came in the ninth inning of the third no-hitter in Mariners’ history. Ryan fielded a slow roller by Dodgers’ leadoff hitter Dee Gordon and fired to first in a bang-bang play that Gordon and Dodgers manager Don Mattingly still believe should have been called safe. But instant replay reviews on anything more than home runs didn’t come into play until 2014, so the call stood and closer Tom Wilhelmsen went on to finish out the first combined no-hitter by the Mariners – who used five relievers after starter Kevin Millwood’s right groin muscle tightened up while warming up for the seventh. Ryan didn’t enter the game until the ninth as a defensive replacement for Munenori Kawasaki and the move paid off big time for manager Eric Wedge as Ryan preserved Seattle’s first no-no since 1983.

2. Flash -- AKA Superman -- makes his own mark
July 5, 2018

Dee Gordon had his own magic moment for the Mariners six years later, when the man known as “Flash” made a superlative diving catch to rob Ian Kinsler for the final out in the eighth inning of a 4-1 win over the Angels. Gordon seemed to catch up to the ball from behind with his all-out effort that “looked like Superman,” in the eyes of catcher Chris Herrmann. Gordon, a two-time Gold Glove second baseman, started the season in center field but had recently shifted back to second after Robinson Canó’s suspension, and he helped the Mariners win their ninth out of 10 games to improve to 56-32.

3. Everybody needs help, right?
May 8, 2018

Most no-hitters have a defensive gem or two to save the day, and third baseman Kyle Seager delivered a beauty for James Paxton when the Big Maple stymied the Blue Jays in a 5-0 win at Rogers Centre. Seager made a diving stop of a 109-mph rocket down the line by Kevin Millar, scrambled quickly to his feet and fired an off-balance one-hopper to first baseman Ryon Healy to get the speedy Millar for the final out of the seventh.

4. Ackley with the robbery
July 21, 2014

When you think of great Mariners defensive outfielders, such players as Franklin Gutierrez and Leonys Martin pop quickly to mind. But the most impressive homer-robbing catch belonged to converted second baseman Dustin Ackley, who went over the left-field wall in Seattle and snow-coned the ball with an amazing last-second extension to deny Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud in a 5-2 win. You have to watch the slo-motion replay of Ackley’s glove snaking over the wall to somehow snare the ball to fully appreciate this one.

5. Haniger to the rescue
Sept. 9, 2018

Right fielder Mitch Haniger pulled off a spectacular game-ending diving catch in the gap in right-center to rob a hit from Giancarlo Stanton and clinch a 3-2 win over the Yankees. After scoring the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth following outstanding slides both at second base and then at the plate, Haniger made a full-out dive on Stanton's blooper preserved Edwin Díaz’s 54th save of the year.

6. Seager saves another no-no
Aug. 12, 2015

Seager seemingly has had a hand -- or glove -- in several of Seattle’s no-hitters, and his over-the-shoulder grab of a foul pop by Orioles left fielder David Lough in the ninth inning was the play of the game in Hisashi Iwakuma’s no-no vs. Baltimore. With Iwakuma tiring in what wound up being the only complete game of his MLB career, Seager got the first out of the ninth, and Kuma did the rest.

7. Welcome to Seattle, J.P.
July 26, 2019

Shortstop J.P. Crawford introduced himself to Mariners’ fans with a spectacular diving stop and off-balance throw to beat the Tigers’ Jeimer Candelario for the final out in the top of the ninth, setting up Mallex Smith’s walk-off single in the bottom of the frame in a 3-2 win in Seattle. But it was the throw that had everyone talking, including first baseman Austin Nola: “It almost looked like he threw it over his head like a Hakeem Olajuwon hook shot.”

8. A little help would be appreciated
May 19, 2018

The short fence down the right-field line at T-Mobile Park provided an adventure for Mitch Haniger when he tumbled head over heels into the crowd -- with no aid from the startled fans -- and still managed to come up with a foul ball off the bat of the Tigers’ Jose Iglesias to help James Paxton to a 7-2 victory. The play was so spectacular that the Mariners incorporated it into their promotional campaign the following spring.

9. Bend it like Beckham
Sept. 27, 2017

Veteran utility man Gordon Beckham didn’t keep his feet, but he kept his head, after diving over the tarp at the Oakland Coliseum to haul in a foul popup from his third-base position. After Beckham caught Josh Phegley’s popup, he alertly fired to second baseman Robinson Canó to nail the A’s Renato Nunez after he’d tagged up at first.

9. Oh my, O’Malley
Aug. 26, 2016

Shawn O’Malley, another utility man, made the most of his late-inning insertion as a defensive replacement in right field as he leaped over several fans and tumbled into the stands to haul in a foul ball by Chase Headley in Seattle’s 7-5 victory over the Yankees.

10. One more for Ichiro
March 31, 2018

The Mariners’ icon played most of his career in Seattle in the decade prior, but at age 44 he returned to the Mariners and in his second game back, made a homer-saving catch to rob the Indians’ Jose Ramirez at the top of the wall in left field.

Honorable mention: Gimme that thing
June 7, 2019

Domingo Santana will not be expected to land high on many defensive lists, but the big right fielder made an interesting play in Anaheim when he outwrestled an Angels fan for a foul ball off the bat of Jonathan Lucroy to record an unexpected out. The 6-foot-5, 235-pound Santana pulled the glove off the fans’ hand -- with the ball still inside -- and showed the umpire he had control to record the out. And being the nice guy that he is, he gave the fan back his glove and flipped him the ball for good measure once the out was recorded.