M’s Hernandez gives up six in spring outing

SURPRISE, Ariz. – The problem wasn’t the number of strikes Felix Hernandez threw Thursday night.

It was the number of balls he didn’t throw, the Seattle Mariners’ ace joked after he absorbed a four-inning, nine-hit spring-training thumping from the Kansas City Royals in what became a 9-1 Royals victory.

In this no-worries portion of the year, Hernandez hardly was fazed by the outing.

“I feel pretty good. I feel strong,” Hernandez said. “I’m throwing a lot of strikes. Maybe I need to throw more balls because they hit everything.”

The Royals scored six runs, three of them earned because of two errors, including one by Hernandez.

Hernandez is scheduled for two more spring training starts before he pitches the season opener April 1 at Oakland.

What does he need to accomplish before then?

“I want to throw a good game just to build my confidence back,” he said, grinning. “The last two starts, I need to throw a good game and I’ll be good. And if I throw a bad game? I’ll still be good.”

Shortstop Brendan Ryan was charged with an error on a hard-hit ball in the second inning, followed by a botched cutoff and rundown that allowed a third run to score after Lorenzo Cain’s two-run single with the bases loaded. Hernandez also made a bad throw on a pickoff move that allowed Chris Getz to reach third and score on Alcides Escobar’s sacrifice fly in the fourth.

Reminded that he stuck out seven, Hernandez followed that with, “Yeah, but I gave up six runs.”