Mariners hammered
Published 8:26 pm Tuesday, June 7, 2011
CHICAGO — Paul Konerko and Carlos Quentin homered, and Phil Humber held Seattle’s offense in check as the Chicago White Sox beat the Mariners and Felix Hernandez 5-1 on Tuesday night.
The White Sox have won a club-record 10 straight home games against Seattle, and 14 of their last 15.
Konerko blasted the first pitch he saw from Hernandez 383 feet over the left-field bullpen to give Chicago a 1-0 lead in the second inning. It was his 14th of the year and second in as many days since missing a pair of games due to minor wrist surgery.
Konerko has homered in four of his last six games and has driven in a run in eight straight. The home run also marked Konerko’s 1,000th career run scored. He has nine homers in his last 16 games against Seattle.
Hernandez (6-5) gave up five runs on eight hits in 6 2/3 innings, including four runs in the third.
Gordon Beckham led off the inning with a walk and advanced to third on Brent Morel’s single. He was cut down at the plate on Juan Pierre’s grounder to first, but 44-year-old Omar Vizquel ripped a two-RBI triple into the right-field corner.
Quentin followed with his 15th homer of the year, a 334-foot shot off the bottom of the left-field foul pole. Quentin also hit a solo shot off of Hernandez in a 3-2 loss at Seattle on May 6.
It was Hernandez’s shortest outing since May 11 at Baltimore and his first loss since May 17 against Minnesota. He hadn’t been charged with more than four earned runs since April 11, when he allowed seven runs against Toronto.
Humber (5-3) matched his career high with 7 2/3 innings pitched, the third time he has done it this season. He allowed one run on five hits, struck out five and walked three. He earned a no-decision the last time he faced Hernandez and Seattle, allowing two runs over seven innings.
Humber lowered his ERA to 2.87 and has won his last three decisions. He hasn’t lost since April 30 and has gone at least seven innings in eight of his last nine starts.
Chris Sale recorded the last four outs for Chicago, which has won six of its last eight.
Seattle, which came in tied for the fewest runs scored in the American League, threatened several times early but was unable to piece together a rally.
The Mariners stranded seven runners on base and went hitless in five at-bats with runners in scoring position.
Miguel Olivo got the Mariners on the scoreboard with a sacrifice fly in the fourth, but that also sparked a string of 10 consecutive batters retired by Humber.
Carlos Peguero had two hits in the No. 9 hole, playing instead of rookie Greg Halman, who had six hits in his first seven at-bats to start his big league career.
Brent Morel had two more hits for the White Sox. He has hit safely in eight of his last nine games and is 23 for 64 since May 7.
