Hernandez complete in Mariners’ win
ANAHEIM, Calif. – Felix Hernandez had no doubt that with the command he had on all his pitches, he would get his first career complete game.
The 20-year-old right-hander threw 94 pitches en route to a four-hitter, and the Seattle Mariners parlayed consecutive fielding errors by Angels pitcher Jeff Weaver into three fifth-inning runs to beat Los Angeles 6-2.
Hernandez made just 29 pitches from the fourth inning through the seventh. So by the time the ninth inning came around, he was still 24 shy of his season high of 108.
“If I wasn’t going to finish this game, I was never going to finish another game in my career,” a smiling Hernandez said through a translator. “I had every single thing working for me out there. I used every one of my pitches, hit both sides of the plate really well and could do whatever I wanted. The curve ball I had today was the best I’ve had all season.”
Hernandez won his third straight outing, striking out nine and walking none in his 25th career start and first against the Angels.
“It’s tough when you’re seeing somebody for the first time,” Angels leadoff hitter Chone Figgins said. “You can watch a little bit of video, but that’s about it. He threw a lot of stuff for strikes and stuck with his game plan.”
Hernandez gave up a first-inning run on Orlando Cabrera’s RBI single, then retired his next 17 batters before Cabrera led off the seventh with a double and scored on Garret Anderson’s sacrifice fly. Cabrera had three of the four hits Hernandez allowed.
“As the game went on, he got stronger,” manager Mike Hargrove said. “I thought he really turned it up a notch in the eighth and ninth and probably threw his best breaking balls in those two innings. They put a lot of balls in play early in the count because he was throwing strikes. He wasn’t necessarily pitching to stay away from contact, but when he had the hitter in a position where he could strike him out, he did.”
Jeremy Reed and Raul Ibanez homered and Adrian Beltre had a two-run single for the Mariners, who have won nine of their last 11 games after losing six straight. The three-game sweep was their first against an A.L. team since sweeping the Angels Sept. 12-14.
The two-time defending A.L. West champion Angels are last in the division with a 27-35 record, 2 1/2 games behind the third-place Mariners and six behind first-place Texas. They have lost 11 of their last 14 meetings with Seattle and seven of nine this season.