SEATTLE _ The Seattle Mariners didn't follow up their "worst game of the season" on Sunday with an even worse showing on Monday night.
Nope, they pulled off one of their more stunning wins in a season where there have been more than a few of them.
Shutdown and shutout for the first eight innings by Chicago White Sox all-star left-hander Chris Sale and trailing 3-0 going into the bottom of the ninth, the Mariners scored four runs off White Sox closer David Robertson, highlighted by Adam Lind's three-run walkoff homer to pull out an improbable 4-3 win in front of the remaining crowd of 20,598 at Safeco Field.
When Franklin Gutierrez led off the ninth with a single, it was just Seattle's second hit of the game. Following a fielder's choice by Robinson Cano for an out, Robertson walked Nelson Cruz and then struck out Dae-Ho Lee. Kyle Seager, who had missed out on an RBI opportunity against Sale in the seventh, dumped a single into center to score Cano and make it 3-1.
Manager Scott Servais called on Lind to pinch-hit for Chris Iannetta. Lind yanked an elevated cut fastball just over the wall in right-center for his 14th homer of the season and his second walkoff of 2016.
Sale, the starting pitcher for the American League in the All-Star Game and Cy Young front-runner, viciously carved up Mariners hitters in his first start after the break, using his mid-90s fastball and nasty, biting slider to work eight shutout innings to be in line for his 15th win of the season.
Seattle mustered just one hit _ a first-inning single by Gutierrez _ against Sale. The Mariners did draw three walks off him and he hit two batters with pitches to put base runners on. But none them of reached third base.
The closest Seattle came to a scoring opportunity against Sale was in the seventh, down 3-0. With two outs and a runner on first, Sale hit Lee in the back of the leg with a slider. Seager stepped to the plate as the tying run. But a perfect inside fastball on a 1-1 count by Sale put Seager on the defensive. Sale put him away with a nasty slider, generating an awkward swing from Seager, who appeared to be anticipating a fastball.
It was easy to predict that runs would be at a minimum against Sale. But the hope for the Mariners was to keep the game close against a Sox team that was in a run-scoring drought and find a way to scratch out a run or two against Sale or the White Sox bullpen.
Working with no margin for error, Mariners starter Wade LeBlanc made two major mistakes in an otherwise decent outing. The veteran left-hander pitched seven innings, giving up three runs on nine hits with a walk and six strikeouts. The two mistakes led to home runs. LeBlanc left a 1-0 fastball over the middle to the second batter of the game _ Tim Anderson. The White Sox shortstop crushed it into the upper deck of left field for a solo homer and a 1-0 lead. LeBlanc worked himself into more trouble that inning, giving up a double to Jose Abreu and a single to Melky Cabrera following the homer. But he was able to retire the next two hitters.
LeBlanc worked scoreless second and third innings, but gave up leadoff single to Cabrera to start the fourth. It brought to the plate third baseman Todd Frazier, who came into the game with the second most homers in baseball at 25. A 1-1 changeup that stayed on the outer half quickly became homer No. 26. Frazier got his arms extended and drove it over the wall in straightaway center for a 3-0 lead.
The three runs were the most the White Sox had scored in a game since July 9.
LeBlanc wouldn't allow another run. Seattle got shutout innings of relief from Vidal Nuno and David Rollins, who got credit for the win.
