ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Felix Hernandez briefly looked like the ace he used to be for the Seattle Mariners, even playfully pointing former teammate Adrian Beltre back to the dugout after striking out baseball’s active career hits leader.
After getting through the first two innings unscathed Tuesday night, including another entertaining on-field exchange with his friend, the struggles returned for the former AL Cy Young Award winner.
Beltre grounded into a double play to end the third, but only after the Texas Rangers had scored four runs that inning to put them ahead to stay. And when Beltre homered to straightaway center in the sixth, it marked the most runs Hernandez has ever given up in his career.
“Yeah, I’m frustrated. What can I say? What can I say?” Hernandez said after giving up all the runs in six innings of an 11-4 loss.
Hernandez (8-10) is 0-4 in his last five starts for the playoff-contending Mariners. This was the only time in that span he pitched more than five innings.
Robinson Chirinos, the No. 7 batter, led off the Texas third with a walk before Willie Calhoun’s single and a bunt hit by No. 9 batter Carlos Tocci loaded the bases. A groundout pushed home a run before Rouged Odor’s two-run double and a tiebreaking single by Elvis Andrus, whose 18-game hitting streak is the longest active in the majors and his career high.
“Yeah, I lost my command after the first two innings. Just leaving it in the middle of the plate and making a lot of mistakes,” Hernandez said.
“Yeah, got off to a decent start. The walks hurt him a little bit tonight again, two or three leadoff walks tonight. Those guys came around to score,” manager Scott Servais said. “I thought we got off to a good start in the game, just it turned on us.”
Beltre, Jurickson Profar and Odor all homered off Hernandez, whose spot in the rotation doesn’t seem certain down the stretch.
“Yeah, we’ll see. You have to take a look at where we’re at going forward here,” Servais said. “The next time that spot comes around, we’ll be over in Houston. They’ve also got a good club. We’ve got to give ourselves a chance every time out there to win the ballgame.”
