Mariners overcome rare rough Oakland outing by Felix Hernandez, beat A's
OAKLAND – Throughout his 12-year career, Felix Hernandez has made the Oakland Coliseum his personal playpen and its inhabitants, the Athletics, his favorite toys.
His 22-8 record facing the A’s represents by far the most success the Seattle Mariners ace has enjoyed against any team, with half those victories – and only three losses – coming at the much-maligned East Bay ballpark, where he came into Wednesday’s game with a career 2.76 ERA.
That figure went up during a rare clunker, as Hernandez lasted four innings yielding eight runs – four earned – with just a single strikeout. And yet Hernandez couldn’t care less because the Mariners overcame a four-run deficit to complete their first series sweep of the season with a 9-8 victory over Oakland.
Down 4-2 entering the bottom of the fifth, the A’s responded with a six-run inning aided by a Hernandez misplay and errors by him and third baseman Kyle Seager, and they still could not beat their nemesis.
“We finally get some hits, some good swings, make him work, get some runs off him and kind of let him off the hook,’’ A’s manager Bob Melvin said after his club dropped to 3-9 in its last 12 games. “So disappointing. Game overall disappointing.’’Korean rookie Dae-Ho Lee homered in the sixth and seventh innings to power the Mariners’ comeback, as they improved to 11-4 in the last 15 games to remain in first place in the AL West.
Heralded rookie left-hander Sean Manaea, making the second start of his career, faced a tough matchup with the former Cy Young Award winner, but took a 2-0 lead into the fifth. A four-run uprising that featured Nelson Cruz’s colossal two-run blast to straightaway center, over the first level of luxury suites and into the seats above them, put Seattle ahead.
The prodigious blow was pegged by the Statcast tracking technology as 435 feet in distance, although longtime observers deemed that estimate short.
“Unbelievable. Wow,’’ Hernandez said. “I asked him if he got all of it and he said, ‘No, I’ve still got more in the tank.’ C’mon.’’
The Mariners, averaging 4.52 runs a game, do seem to have more firepower than last season, when they ranked 12th in the league at 4.05.
After their six-run response in the bottom half, the A’s called on a bullpen that had been one of their bright lights so far this season, posting a 2.46 ERA and 10 saves. This time it failed, as Seattle got to relievers Ryan Dull, Sean Doolittle and John Axford for five runs as part of its 16-hit attack. Lee’s two-run homer off Axford in the seventh put the visitors ahead by the final score.
Hernandez said the Mariners have a more versatile offense than last year and no longer have to wait for the likes of Cruz and Robinson Cano to hit a longball. On Wednesday, those two lineup mainstays combined for five hits and three RBI, but also got help from Lee’s big day.
Considering the number of times Hernandez has failed to earn a win because of lack of run support – including his first two outings of the season, when he allowed a total of four hits and one earned run in 13 innings but still unrewarded – the hitters found it gratifying to come through on a day when King Felix, by his admission, “had nothing today.’’
“He’s human. He’s not always going to have his best game,’’ Cruz said. “It’s important to show him we can win even when he doesn’t have his best stuff.’’