SEATTLE — There continue to be times this season — yes, still too few — when Adam Lind flashes the impact bat the Mariners envisioned when they acquired him last December from Milwaukee for three minor-leaguers.
It’s a tantalizing sight.
Wednesday was the best yet. Lind hit two home runs, had four hits and drove in six runs as the Mariners followed up Tuesday’s walk-off victory by battering the Oakland A’s 13-3 in the series finale at Safeco Field.
“I’ve definitely been building to something,” Lind said. “It was just a good night. There have been incremental improvements throughout the last two-to-three weeks. Tonight, it all worked out.”
Lind erased a 1-0 deficit with a solo homer in the second inning and capped a six-run third inning with a three-run blast. Both of those came against Oakland rookie right-hander Zach Neal.
And after the Athletics chipped away against Mariners starter Hisashi Iwakuma with two runs in the fifth, Lind stemmed the comeback with a two-out RBI single later in the inning. He also had an RBI double in the seventh.
“We need him,” said designated hitter Nelson Cruz, whose three hits included a 422-foot homer that cleared the left-field scoreboard.
“With good teams, you always have somebody who gets hot. That’s important. If we get the whole lineup hot, it would be great, but you always need one guy who steps up. We’ve got a lot of guys who can do that.”
Iwakuma (3-4) worked around a few shaky moments by pitching through the seventh inning before Joaquin Benoit and Steve Johnson closed out the blowout victory.
The Mariners improved to 28-18 and maintained a 1 1/2-game lead over second-place Texas in the American League West.
It wasn’t just Lind.
The Mariners finished with a season-high 17 hits, including Cruz’s ice-the-cake bomb in a four-run seventh inning against reliever Andrew Triggs. Robinson Cano closed the scoring with a no-doubt homer in the eighth.
The only sobering note was Leonys Martin — Tuesday’s hero with a two-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning — left the game after three innings because of a “tweak” in his left hamstring.
The injury isn’t believed to be serious.
“It got a little bit tight,” Martin said. “They decided to get me out of the game to be smart. I hope to be back in a few days. We’ve got a day off (Thursday), and we’ll see how that (helps). It will be all right.”
Other than Martin’s injury, this was a pretty much a SoDo party with Lind in the middle of everything. The Mariners rocked Neal (0-1) for seven runs in four innings and then roughed up the bullpen.
“Outstanding night for our offense,” manager Scott Servais said. “It was great to see and, certainly, it was great to see Adam Lind have that kind of night.
“He’s capable of that. He’s capable of carrying a club for a few weeks. He has the kind of offensive ability. He needed one of those nights.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
