It was nearly possible Monday night to hear the late Dave Niehaus bellowing those words again. “It wasn’t looking so good, but that’s why you play all 27 outs”. “Like he said, it’s ‘super awesome'”. Sale, he said, was a huge factor in the lack of hitting as the Mariners fell behind 3-0 before the ninth-inning rally. “This is one to remember”. “I understand where they’re coming from”.
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White Sox manager Robin Ventura wasn’t quite as emotional after the loss, but he was still dissatisfied with an offense that hit two home runs and piled up 11 hits. “I think we’ll be OK, it’s just a matter of grinding out at-bats”. Robinson Cano leads Seattle with 116 hits, Kyle Seager has 63 RBI and Nelson Cruz has 23 home runs. That got the game to Lind, who was batting for catcher Chris Iannetta. “It’s not like I hadn’t faced him before”. “I just didn’t make enough quality pitches”.
Robertson jumped ahead 0-1 in the count before Lind sent a drive over the right-center wall for a three-run homer.
“I didn’t know that”, Narvaez said. “I didn’t know if I had enough, but it carried”.
Barely – but no matter.
The Seattle Mariners will have to do tonight what few team have been able to in the first half of the season, beat Chris Sale. It’s really easy to give up and say, ‘Ah, this isn’t our night, ‘ and move on. Chicago C Alex Avila (strained right hamstring) began a rehab assignment at Triple-A Charlotte on Monday, going 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout while hitting in the cleanup spot. “He got a good pitch, and he didn’t miss it”.
David Rollins (1-0) got the victory after pitching a scoreless ninth as the Mariners climbed back over. 500 at 47-46. Robertson (0-2) was the loser.
The Mariners’ best scoring chance against Sale came in the seventh inning, when he hit two batters. Sale walked Leonys Martin in the third and then did not allow another runner until tiring in the seventh. “And I just went in there and blew it. Gave up hits and walked guys, didn’t get the job done”.
Wade LeBlanc, making his fourth start since being acquired in a trade with Toronto, allowed three runs on nine hits in seven innings, striking out six and walking one.
“That’s why you play”, Seattle first baseman Adam Lind said after hitting a pinch-hit, three-run homer with two outs in the ninth to give the Mariners their most improbable win of the year.
Sale will be motivated to put that last start behind him, so expect him to have a great outing in this game.
“I felt just a little out of sync”, LeBlanc said.
One swing by Mariners pinch-hitter Adam Lind erased a masterful performance by White Sox ace Chris Sale, who could only watch from the dugout.
Anderson’s one-out homer in the first inning, which reached the upper deck in left field, gave the White Sox a quick 1-0 lead.
STAT PACK: The Mariners have five walk-off homers, which leads the majors.
The club’s season record is six in 1986. Ventura opted to call upon his closer David Robertson to pitch the ninth inning.
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Off the bat, it was struck well, but it was also going to one of the deeper parts of Safeco Field where potential homers often fizzle and die into opponents’ gloves.
