Struggling Felix Hernandez knows he’s pitching for his place in Mariners’ rotation

Felix Hernandez has been at his best this season in the most charged environments. Opening Day against the Indians and a home game against the Boston Red Sox were testament to that.

But Thursday’s home start against the Toronto Blue Jays presents another level of emotion. Hernandez is not only pitching for the cheers of the Safeco Field faithful, he very well could be pitching for his future as a member of the Mariners’ rotation.

“I can’t think about that,” Hernandez said, just days after he was sitting on the floor in the clubhouse at Angel Stadium after allowing seven runs in 2 2/3 innings. It was an outing manager Scott Servais called, “noncompetitive.”

“I can’t think about anything right now,” he added. “I got another start Thursday, so I got to go out there and do my job.”

Whether Hernandez should have even earned this opportunity was in doubt until Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto put it to rest publicly on Monday.

Hernandez’s earned-run average has spiked to a career-high 5.58. Even with as much as he struggled and fought injuries last season, his ERA was still more than a run lower (4.36) in 2016 than this season.

And Hernandez, the former two-time American League ERA champion, was no more embarrassed about his play than against the Angels on Saturday.

“Last year I was hurt, the year before I was hurt and now I’m healthy and the results are not what I want,” Hernandez said. “I just got to figure out what’s going on.

“I’ve been living in the middle of the plate all the time. I just got to command my fastball.”

He insisted his back is fully healthy even after missing a start because of it, though before that he had allowed one run in eight innings against the Rays, one run in seven against the Red Sox, one in five innings against the Yankees and three in six innings against Baltimore.

Hernandez is a long way from his Cy Young form, and the Mariners know that. With their bulked up bullpen, five or six good innings from Hernandez is what they need.

What they can’t handle are starts like the 32-year-old had against the Angels.

“Obviously on Thursday, hopefully we get beyond where he’s been,” Dipoto said. “Particularly his last start. We need him to do those things. The Mariners have relied on Felix for a lot of years to take the ball and we’re going to rely on him again.

“Every time he takes the mound it’s going to mean a lot. But we’re not making any determination beforehand (on whether he’d stay in the rotation). He earns the opportunity to take the ball and he has earned that.

“If Felix gives us a good one, we’re going to be a better team. If he doesn’t, we’re going to have to recover and find another way to answer those innings. We’re just going to take it as very time through the rotation we’re going to assess where we are.”

Dipoto said the Mariners didn’t have the assets to compete for one of the top starting pitchers available on the trade market and didn’t like the options that were available otherwise. But the Mariners do have right-hander Erasmo Ramirez, who was projected to be their No. 4 starter to open the season, nearing a return from the disabled list if they do need to replace Hernandez.

Ramirez will likely need just one more rehab start. On Tuesday at Double-A Arkansas, he pitched four innings, allowing one earned run on four hits while throwing 66 pitches. Dipoto said Ramirez’s velocity reached 94, something Ramirez struggled with after first being activated off the disabled list for two starts in late April.

“It’s going to be relative to what happens in the moment,” Dipoto said of Ramirez’s fit with the Mariners. “So many things could happen in the next five days, from him entering a five-man rotation, to stretching it out to a six-man rotation, to going into the bullpen as a long guy. It helps that he is versatile.

“Anything can happen. We just feel like we’re deeper and more prepared now to handle whatever comes next. There’s a place for Erasmo on this team and he’s going to help us.”

Dipoto also said the Mariners will be one of the most active teams in the majors in monitoring the August waiver wires, and you should probably believe him. The Mariners could very well add another starting pitcher that way.

But all this is such an unfamiliar topic for Hernandez. Once one of the organization’s pillars, now its possible the Mariners’ best chance to make the postseason is without him.

“It’s been tough on him – the last start wasn’t good,” Servais said. “He was first to admit he wasn’t happy with it. He’ll pitch for us on Thursday night and we’ll see what happens from there. I hope he gets it turned around. We certainly need him and he wants to be part of this, there’s no question about that. But you got to go out and do it.

“It’s the do-good league and he’s been part of this league for such a long time because he’s done very well. This is bothering him a little bit and you see that with a lot of players when they’re not playing, in their minds, to their capabilities. He’s down and he wants to turn it around.”

This just might be his last chance, especially after Servais said publicly after Saturday’s start that he and Dipoto would discuss what to do with his role next.

But this week has been far from the swagger Seattle has been so accustomed to from Hernandez.

“I just got to go out there and do my job,” Hernandez said. “I just got to figure out how to go out there and compete.

“I know that if I’m not doing my job, there are going to be some questions that come. But I know what I can do.”