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 The Seattle Mariners ace turned in another outstanding
performance, and this time he didn't have to wait around to see how
it turned out. After Hernandez's teammates erupted for seven runs in
the sixth inning, the Mariners rolled to an 11-1 win over the
road-weary Blue Jays in a battle of American League wild-card
contenders.
Twelve batters came to the plate during a sixth that saw Seattle
(63-55) turn a one-run lead into a 9-1 laugher. Hernandez returned
to the mound for one more inning to finish off yet another solid
outing.
Hernandez (13-3) allowed three hits and one run over seven innings,
marking his major-league-record 16th consecutive start of at least
seven innings while allowing two runs or fewer.
"I'm running out of words for Felix," Mariners manager Lloyd
McClendon said. "I thought he stepped up and gave us a great
performance."
The Mariners stayed within 1 1/2 games of the red-hot Kansas City
Royals in the battle for the AL's second wild-card spot. Toronto
(63-57) lost a game on Seattle after entering the day in a virtual
tie with the Mariners in the wild-card standings.
The Blue Jays were coming off a 6 1/2-hour, 19-inning marathon the
previous day in Toronto. They won that game, beating the Detroit
Tigers 6-5, but the residual effects were pretty obvious in Monday
night's game.
Triple-A call-up Brad Mills came on for starting pitcher Drew
Hutchison in the sixth and struggled mightily but had to go the rest
of the way to provide relief to the overworked Toronto bullpen.
Seven of the first eight batters Mills faced reached base, but
manager John Gibbons had little choice but to leave him out there.
"That didn't go well," Gibbons said of Mills' outing, and the
left-hander was designated for assignment after the game.
The Mariners amassed five extra-base hits in the sixth inning,
including two from second baseman Robinson Cano.
Cano led off with a solo home run, which put the Mariners ahead 3-1.
He later added an RBI double in the inning, after catcher Mike
Zunino, right fielder Endy Chavez and shortstop Brad Miller each
drove in a run with an extra-base hit. Zunino and Miller both
tripled in the inning, and left fielder Dustin Ackley added a
two-run single.
That was more than enough for Hernandez, who gave up a solo home run
to Toronto right fielder Jose Bautista in the first inning but was
almost unhittable the rest of the way. The only other Blue Jay to
get a hit off him was center fielder Colby Rasmus, who went 2-for-3
and is now 7-for-10 in his career against Hernandez.
Hernandez struck out eight without issuing a walk and improved his
season ERA to a league-leading 1.95.
"He's by far one of the top three pitchers in the game," Bautista
said. "It's hard to say whether he's pitching better this year than
he has because he's always been really good."
The 11 runs scored were the most in a Hernandez start since June 23.
Seattle scored 11 total runs over his previous five starts heading
into Monday.
"With Felix out there, when you give those guys a lead, they'll put
it away," Gibbons said.
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Hutchison (8-10) was charged with six runs on seven hits over 5 2/3
innings. Mills allowed five runs on three hits over 2 1/3 innings. The
left-hander compiled a 27.00 ERA in two appearances with the Blue Jays.
The only good news for Toronto was that the game took just two hours, 43
minutes, a welcome change from the previous day's marathon.
Neither Gibbons nor Bautista would blame Monday night's performance on
the previous day's game.
"It didn't have anything to do with (the loss in Seattle)," Gibbons
said. "It didn't help things, but it didn't have anything to do with
(Monday's) game."
Said Bautista: "There's no way we're going to use something like that as
an excuse."
Cano, Ackley, Zunino and Miller each drove in two runs for the Mariners.
Boosted by a large contingent of Canadian fans who made the 3 1/2-hour
drive from the border, the attendance of 41,168 was the second-largest
Safeco Field crowd of the season. Only the home opener, with an
announced crowd of 45,662, featured more fans this year.
"I'm glad we had a lot of fans tonight," the Mariners' McClendon said,
"because they sure did."
NOTES: The Blue Jays selected the contract of LHP Brad Mills from
Triple-A Buffalo after Sunday's marathon, 19-inning win over Detroit.
INF Ryan Goins was optioned to Buffalo to make room for Mills. Mills
took over for starter Drew Hutchison in Monday's sixth inning and
struggled so badly that he was designated for assignment after the 11-1
loss. ... The Blue Jays' team flight from Toronto arrived at 12:30 a.m.
Seattle time, and manager John Gibbons said the three-hour time change
worked in his players' favor. ... The Mariners recalled OF James Jones
before Monday's game. Seattle had a roster spot available after
optioning RHP Erasmo Ramirez to Triple-A Tacoma following his Sunday
start. ... Mariners SS Brad Miller got a rare start in place of
hot-hitting rookie Chris Taylor, and he went 1-for-2 with two RBIs. The
left-handed-hitting Miller was originally platooning with Taylor, who
earned the job outright after a strong start since his July 24
promotion.
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