DENVER — Count this as a give-back game by the Mariners to their King on the eve of his 10th anniversary in the big leagues.
After so often squandering wonderful performances by Felix Hernandez over the years, the Mariners mustered a three-homer attack Monday night when he wasn’t in top form.
The result was an 8-7 victory over the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.
Yep, it was 10 years ago Tuesday that Hernandez, at age 19, made his major-league debut by pitching well in a loss at Detroit. That set a tone, didn’t it.
On Monday, though, the Mariners built a 7-1 lead for Hernandez through 2 1/2 innings on homers by Kyle Seager, Nelson Cruz and Brad Miller against Colorado starter Eddie Butler, who departed after four innings.
Then the Rockies began chipping away. Two runs in the fourth inning and another in the sixth. Hernandez wasn’t sharp. For a change, he didn’t need to be to come away with a victory.
Hernandez (13-6) lasted until two outs in the seventh when he exited with a runner on second. He have up four runs and 11 hits but walked just one and struck out nine.
Joe Beimel got the final out in the seventh. Tom Wilhelmsen worked around a pair of two-out singles in the eighth by striking out Jose Reyes with runners at second and third.
It didn’t come easy at the end.
When Wilhelmsen gave up a leadoff single in the ninth, the Mariners called on lefty Rob Rasmussen, one of the pitchers they acquired last Friday from Toronto for reliever Mark Lowe.
Rasmussen jumped ahead 0-2 on Carlos Gonzalez before yielding a line single. The Mariners then summoned rookie closer Carson Smith, who gave up a two-run double to Ben Paulsen.
That made it 8-6.
Nick Hundley’s single through the right side, after Smith failed to get a check-swing call for a third strike, scored Paulsen. After Brandon Barnes replaced Paulsen as a pinch runner, Kyle Parker singled to right.
The tying run was on third, and the winning run was on first with one out.
Smith struck out pinch-hitter Michael McKendry before closing out the game when Charlie Blackmon flied to center.
Hey, still willing to dream? The Mariners have won three of their last four.
They jumped Butler (3-8) for four runs in the first inning.
Seager lined a one-out double over the head of center fielder Charlie Blackmon and scored on Robinson Cano’s two-out single through the right side.
After Seth Smith walked, Jesus Montero drove a two-run double into the left-center gap for a 3-0 lead. Montero scored on Miller’s single to center.
The Rockies pulled one run back in their first. Blackmon led off with a double and scored on Reyes’ single past second before Hernandez steadied and retired the next three batters.
The Mariners got that run back on Seager’s 448-foot homer with two outs in the second inning. Cruz followed with a 408-foot homer to left, and the lead was 6-1.
Cruz’s homer was his 30th of the season and extended his hitting streak to 14 games. He is the first Mariner to reach 30 since Russell Branyan finished with 31 in 2009.
Miller’s two-out homer in the third, a 373-foot drive to left, extended the lead to 7-1.
Butler managed a scoreless fourth before exiting for a pinch-hitter when the Rockies put runners at first and third with one out later in the inning. The move paid off when Drew Stubbs delivered an RBI infield single.
When Reyes added a two-out RBI single, Colorado was back to within 7-3, but Hernandez stopped it there by stranding runners at second and third. Butler gave up seven runs and seven hits in four innings.
The Rockies pulled closer in the sixth after Nick Hundley led off with a single on a slow hopper to short. He stole second with two outs and scored when Blackmon doubled on a grounder just inside third.
Cano’s two-out double, a liner off the right-field wall in the seventh, pushed the lead to 8-4, but the Mariners missed the chance for a big inning when Smith struck out with runners at second and third.
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