ST. LOUIS -- Rob Refsnyder successfully challenged a third strike, then hit a go-ahead solo home run in the ninth inning to lift the Seattle Mariners to a 3-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday.
Refsnyder was initially called out by plate umpire John Bacon on an 0-2 pitch that the replay showed was outside. After two more balls, he hit a 412-foot blast into the left-field bullpen off JoJo Romero (0-1) to give the Mariners their first lead.
"It's tough when you're not playing every day. Sometimes you lose sight of the strike zone," said Refsnyder, who was making his first ABS challenge. "But that felt really outside. Thankful for the challenge system."
Cardinals catcher Ivan Herrera said Romero's pitch was outside of the zone.
"Umpires are humans," he said. "We're all going to make mistakes. Sometimes I don't even know whether it's a ball or a strike. It was just a pitch that was out of the zone."
Jose Ferrer retired the Cardinals in order in the ninth for his first save of the season.
Each team successfully challenged four ball-strike calls by Bacon during the game, all during Mariners plate appearances, before JJ Wetherholt had an unsuccessful bid in the ninth.
During J.P Crawford's eighth-inning plate appearance, each team had a successful challenge. Crawford had a strike overturned early in the at-bat, and then had ball four changed to the third strike on a challenge by Herrera. Herrera also secured a strikeout against Randy Arozarena in the second inning with a challenge.
Bacon had seven calls overturned in his two previous games behind home plate.
"Today, it worked in our favor. Tomorrow, it might not," Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. "It's hard to say, but this is becoming a part of baseball. It is a part of baseball. So, I think, using it in a way that can help you out as much as possible is what our guys are going to try to do."
Eduard Bazardo (1-1) got four outs in relief to record the victory.
Wetherholt led off the third inning with a line drive that traveled 375 feet into the right-field bullpen for the rookie's fifth home run.
Cal Raleigh answered in the fourth with a 401-footer that also landed in the Cardinals' bullpen.
Nathan Church added a 407-foot home run down the right-field line in the sixth to put St. Louis up 2-1.
Emerson Hancock gave up seven hits, including the Cardinals' two solo home runs, in six innings for Seattle. He walked two and struck out four.
Michael McGreevy allowed one run and five hits in six innings while striking out six and walking none.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
