SEATTLE — Felix Hernandez easily could have taken Sunday off.
Feeling puny because of strep throat that hit him three days earlier, the Seattle Mariners suggested to Hernandez on Saturday that he push his start back another day.
Some players might have agreed, especially in a season like this for the Mariners.
“When they told me they could give me an extra day, I said, ‘I’m pitching,’” Hernandez said. “I was going to make it. I don’t know how, but I was going to make it.”
He not only made the start, he made it a rarity — beating the Oakland A’s 8-4 for his first victory since July 18 and the first by a Mariners starter this month.
“It seems like four months,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez pitched six innings for the 18th time in his 24 starts this season, allowing four hits. Three of those were solo homers, two by Jack Hannahan in the first and third innings and one by Rob Bowen in the fifth.
When manager Jim Riggleman pulled Hernandez after the sixth, the right-hander didn’t fight it. By then, he was feeling the effect of all 106 pitches.
“I was dizzy. I was tired,” Hernandez said.
He’d felt that way a few days but was determined to pitch Sunday even when given the option of waiting until he felt better.
Of course, pushing back his start would have put Hernandez up against the Minnesota Twins, the third-best offensive team in the American League. The A’s are the worst in baseball with a .241 team batting average and, healthy or not, they’re a good opportunity for an opposing pitcher.
No Mariners starter had won since R.A. Dickey on July 31, and Hernandez’s last victory was July 18 when he beat the Indians 8-2.
“That’s baseball,” Hernandez said. “You’ve still got to work hard and go out there and do the best you can. Now I’ve got to go out and do whatever I’ve got to do to win another one.”
The victory wasn’t secure until Kenji Johjima hit a solo homer in the fifth inning to break a 3-3 tie and Jose Lopez hit a three-run homer in the sixth.
The Mariners added another run in the seventh when Miguel Cairo led off with a double and scored on Raul Ibanez’s two-out single. Cairo, starting at third because Adrian Beltre had a bad left shoulder and was limited to DH duty, also hit a two-run triple in the third inning, when the Mariners scored three times.
Johjima had a good day in what’s been his most challenging pro season, having struggled at-bat and lost his No. 1 catching job. He went 2-for-3 and reached base four times. The home run was his fifth this season and second this month after going without a homer in July.
“I come prepared every day and I don’t prepare myself to be a backup, either,” he said. “I wake up at the same time each day, come here at the same time, eat at the same time. Nothing has changed physically or mentally for myself. The rest, the coaches and the manager and the guys upstairs choose what to do about playing time.”
Mentally, it has been a significant challenge.
“It is very tough to not play much because I haven’t done that in the past, especially when I’m healthy,” he said. “There were times I wasn’t in the lineup when I wasn’t healthy. But being healthy, it’s very tough not to be in the lineup.”
Hernandez could say the same about his plight this season, having pitched well but only a .500 record — 8-8 — to show for it. All he must do he says, is look ahead to his next start and not next season
“The season is not over yet,” he said. “I’ve got to keep working hard and when the season is over, then I’ll think about next year. I’ve got to stay focused on this year. It’s not over yet.”
Read Kirby Arnold’s blog on the Mariners at www.heraldnet.com
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
