But there have been times when Hernandez has been anything but regal on the mound and needed more than a little help from his friends. The Mariners have been playing well the past week with wins in four of five after knocking off Pittsburgh 7-4 Tuesday to stay in the Wild Card conversation.
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Manager Scott Servais was left hoping the pattern doesn’t become a habit.
“I liked the game plan throughout the game”, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. The pitches he did get around the plate were often hammered. “Hit it out and just got lucky”. “Bringing my arm up a little bit more has allowed me to get on top of that curveball”. I threw a fastball and he can hit. “It’s what you get when you’ve been out for a long time”.
“I’m not that kind of pitcher out there”, he said.
The Mariners chased Liriano in the fourth. “I thought he did a good job battling and getting back”. Everything. I couldn’t get anything going and they were taking good swings and put the ball in play and walked a couple of guys, too. Though Hernandez (5-4) never retired the Pirates in order, he found a way to get through six innings while giving his teammates enough time to get going at the plate.
Hernandez got off to a very shaky start. Hernandez gave up two more runs in the inning on an RBI double by Starling Marte and a fielder’s-choice RBI by Jung-Ho Kang to make 3-0.
When Liriano sent a Hernandez offering into the bushes beyond center in the second, the Pirates appeared to be in command with a 4-1 advantage. After years of bragging about hitting a grand slam off Johan Santana in 2008, Hernandez got to feel the sting of a fellow pitcher hitting a homer off him. The solo shot was the first homer Hernandez had allowed to a pitcher in his career.
Paxton carries a 4.18 ERA and 1.51 WHIP into the outing, as he has struggled with men on base in this, his year of resurgence. “He’s a pretty good hitter”.
Down 4-1 just two innings into the game, Seattle’s hitters made the erratic Liriano work.
Five days earlier, Liriano had struck out 13 Milwaukee Brewers without walking any of them. He recorded three quick outs, two on strikeouts. Gutierrez homered leading off the third and Seager tied it at 4 four batters later. The Mariners continued to add on. O’Malley went 1-for-5 with that run-scoring double in the fourth.
“We’re certainly looking for crisper, sharper stuff than what he showed early in the game”, Servais said.
To his credit, after the early troubles, Hernandez’s final four innings were scoreless, but far from ideal.
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Indians 7, Nationals 6: Francisco Lindor pushed an RBI single through Washington’s drawn-in infield with one out in the ninth inning, and Cleveland rallied for three runs in its final at-bat to stun Washington in a matchup of first-place teams with sights on October. But some solid defense, a key replay out at second base, a generous strike zone from plate umpire David Rackley and few key pitches allowed him to escape each of the jams. Seattle’s only flawless inning came in the ninth, when Steve Cishek picked up his 24th save.
