Mariners get solid outing from Hernandez, Bruce blasts third homer in as many games to oust Angels
Former Seattle Mariners ace Felix Hernandez had not won a regular-season baseball game since last summer.
He tossed five innings and earned a narrow win over the Kansas City Royals in a start on June 30. Eight losses — seven as a starter, one as a reliever — followed during his final 11 appearances in 2018.
Hernandez hadn’t won in 275 days — until Monday night.
“I didn’t realize it,” he said afterward. “It’s awesome. Finally.”
With his signature King’s Court donning their golden T-shirts, and cheering every time he worked the count to two strikes, Hernandez delivered a solid outing.
He left with one out and a one-run lead in the sixth, and another veteran in first baseman Jay Bruce delivered the knockout punch with a two-run blast in the seventh, as the Mariners held on for a 6-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels in their series opener.
“We have a good group of guys,” Bruce said. “A lot of energy — the right kind of energy. I think it’s channeled correctly. It’s not all over the place. We’re very focused. We have a good idea of what we want to do out there, and we’re executing.”
Hernandez, now the fifth pitcher in the Mariners’ starting rotation, completed 5 1/3 innings, allowing three runs — though just one was earned — on seven hits. He struck out four batters on off-speed pitches, and walked none.
“Really happy for Felix,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “It’s been a while since he’s gotten a ‘W’ behind his name. He competed his tail off.”
Until this season, he had made the Opening Day start for the Mariners the past 10 seasons. When it was announced during spring training that left-hander Marco Gonzales would get the nod this season, Hernandez was visibly frustrated.
He threw an exhibition game during the team’s trip to Japan, but Gonzales again started in last week’s home opener. Seven games into the season Monday night, Hernandez got his first opportunity.
“It’s been tough,” he said. “Finally got my debut for 2019, so got to keep going.”
A balanced mix of fastballs and off-speed pitches helped Hernandez (1-0, 1.69 ERA) manage an Angels lineup that includes slugger Mike Trout — who did not record a hit in the game.
“I thought he stayed with the plan that he had going into the game,” Servais said. “I know he wanted to get the curveball going. But, still using his fastball enough. The curveball and the changeup, those are his big weapons.
“You can only really get going with that if you get ahead in the count, and that’s what he did pretty well tonight. Hopefully he can build upon that. We certainly need him.”
A quick start from Seattle’s offense was an added bonus for Hernandez, who said he’s never seen the offense produce the way this one has so far in his 15 seasons with the club.
“I love it,” Hernandez said. “It’s what we’ve been doing the last, what, seven games already? It’s good. Good for us.”
The Mariners continued their trend of jumping on the opposing team’s starter early, tagging Angels right-hander Chris Stratton (0-1, 8.31) with four runs in the first inning.
Seattle has scored in the first two innings in six of seven games this season. The only game The Mariners haven’t — their season opener in Japan — they scored five runs in the third.
In Monday’s showing, Domingo Santana — who leads the majors with 11 RBIs — cracked a single to left to score a speedy Mallex Smith. Omar Narvaez followed with a two-out RBI single to right.
And reigning American League Player of the Week Tim Beckham knocked a two-out double to left center to drive in two more runs. Beckham now has a career-best 14-game hitting streak, dating back to last September with Baltimore.
He has hit safely in all seven of the Mariners’ games this season, while Santana has reached base safely in every game, and recorded hits in six out of seven.
The Mariners didn’t score again until after the Angels clawed back — two of the three runs Hernandez allowed were aided by errors — cutting the lead to 4-3 in the fourth. The Mariners have a league-leading 13 errors through seven games.
“It sounds simple,” Servais said. “Certainly the game gets sped up a little bit when you’ve got guys that don’t have an overwhelming amount of experience at those spots, but still, it’s the big leagues, we’ve got to get better.
“We’ll continue to get out there early and work. … It does have to get cleaned up.”
But, Bruce, who hit his third home run in as many days, delivered with the two-run 426-foot shot to right in the seventh to give the Mariners enough breathing room.
The Mariners now have a league-leading 16 home runs this season, which is the second-best mark in club history, behind the 1998 team, which had 18.
“The Jay Bruce add-on homer late was huge,” Servais said.
Four Mariners relievers — Chasen Bradford, Zac Rosscup, Brandon Brennan and Roenis Elias — combined for 3 2/3 scoreless innings to close out the win. Elias notched the first save of his career, delivering a 1-2-3 inning in the ninth, that was welcome after shaky endings the past three days.
The Mariners improved to 6-1 with the win, becoming the fourth team in club history (1995, 1985 and 1984) to start a season with that mark, and continue to hold the best record in baseball.
ON TAP
The Mariners wrap up their quick series against the Angels at 7:10 p.m. at T-Mobile Park before hitting the road for nine days.
Ace left-hander Marco Gonzales (2-0, 4.76) will make his third start of the season for Seattle. He’ll face Angels right-hander Trevor Cahill (0-1, 6.00).
Beginning Thursday, Seattle will play a three-game series against the Chicago White Sox and a four-game series against the Kansas City Royals during their first road trip of the season. Wednesday and Friday are off days.
This story was originally published April 1, 2019 at 10:32 PM.