ANAHEIM -- Dee Gordon has done a little bit of everything for the Mariners this year defensively. He's played second base. He's played shortstop. He's played center field.
But Friday night during the Mariners' 5-0 win over the Angels, Gordon did something new, robbing Michael Trout of a home run with a catch up against the fence in center field -- and then celebrating with a double fist pump after landing on his backside at the base of the wall.
Gordon practiced home run-saving catches at the wall with outfield coach Chris Prius when he first converted to center field over the offseason, but this was the first time he pulled one off in a game.
"There was definitely nothing graceful about what I did," Gordon said with a smile. "I'm an infielder, man. I'm just out there because I've got to be. I knew it wasn't going to be graceful, but I caught one though and it's pretty cool.
"I actually looked up and saw my glove go over the wall and I thought I dropped it because I didn't feel the ball anymore. Then I looked and 'Oh, I've got it.' And I was going to hold on to it for a little while because that was my first one."
Gordon's joyful enthusiasm was genuine as he simply was happy to have made a difficult play at a position he's not yet mastered.
"Of course, we got the dance afterward," Mariners manager Scott Servais said. "He likes to celebrate. He is the king of celebration and I think it's great. He does enjoy it and he should. It's a hard game and when something goes your way and you make a great play, you have to have fun with it and he certainly does.
"When Dee Gordon is in the middle of the action, whether it's offense, defense, whatever, he plays with a flair and has a smile on his face. And it really energizes our club."
Gordon has embraced all his defensive positions, including his first year in center field this year for a Mariners club that acquired him from the Marlins last winter and converted him to the outfield.
That plan was sidetracked when Robinson Cano drew an 80-game suspension as Seattle shifted Gordon back to second, then has used him at shortstop as well at times since Cano's return a month ago.
But Gordon was back in center field Friday for the first time this week and just the sixth time since Cano was suspended in mid-May. He backtracked quickly on Trout's drive -- a projected 401-foot shot, per Statcast™ -- in the fourth and leaped to make the catch at the top of the wall that Trout himself has climbed numerous times for the Angels.
"He's never robbed me, so I have no beef with him," Gordon said. "But it was pretty cool to catch it."