King Felix goes distance again to beat Twins 1-0
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Felix Hernandez struck out five in a five-hitter and Eric Thames hit a solo homer in the eighth inning to lift the Seattle Mariners to a 1-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Monday night.
Hernandez (13-5), who picked up his 23rd career complete game and ninth shutout, hasn't lost a decision since June 12. Franklin Gutierrez went 1 for 2 with two stolen bases in his first game since June 28 because of a concussion.
Liam Hendriks (0-7) was almost King-like, but it wasn't quite enough to get him his first career victory. He gave up three hits and struck out six in nine outstanding innings, his only blemish the homer to Thames.
Joe Mauer had a single and Justin Morneau had a triple for the Twins, who have lost 14 of their last 17.
Hernandez's brilliance came as no surprise. The Venezuelan has long been one of baseball's best pitchers, and he's on a roll these days even by his sterling standards. He threw a perfect game against Tampa Bay on Aug. 15 and has allowed one earned run or fewer 16 times this season.
To watch Hendriks, a 23-year-old Aussie who hasn't picked up a win in 14 career starts and has been sent back down to Triple-A twice this season, match King Felix pitch for pitch through seven innings was something entirely unexpected. He needed just 68 pitches to get through six innings against the free-swinging Mariners before Thames got him in the eighth.
Gutierrez singled in the first inning, a welcome sight for a Mariners offense that has missed his right-handed bat in the lineup and his glove in center field. But the mental part of his recovery from the concussion he suffered when he was hit on the ear by a pickoff attempt against Boston is ongoing.
When Hendriks tried to pick him off two pitches later, Gutierrez gingerly scurried back to first base, protecting his head with his right hand. Later in the sixth, Hendriks buzzed him with a pitch up and in that appeared to hit Gutierrez on the hand, and the outfielder wasn't happy as he stomped off to first base.
He took an extra-base hit away from Trevor Plouffe in the third, ranging to the wall in left-center and leaping to grab it as Plouffe just shook his head. Hernandez grinned as he watched his center fielder haul it in, hinting that another magical night could be in the offing.
Not exactly perfect, he walked Josh Willingham in the second inning, but was carving up the Twins and kept a no-hitter going until Mauer singled with two outs in the fourth inning. The Twins had two on in the fifth and Morneau led off the seventh with a triple before Hernandez steeled himself and got Ryan Doumit, Trevor Plouffe and Jamey Carroll to ground out and keep Minnesota scoreless.
Thames led off the eighth inning with a homer that barely reached the flower bed beyond the left field wall, and that proved to be all Hernandez needed.
NOTES: It's the second nine-decision win streak of Hernandez's career. The only other Mariners pitcher to have two win streaks of at least nine decisions is Randy Johnson. ... Mauer passed Earl Battey for the most games caught by a Twins player, catching his 832nd on Monday night. "It's a pretty neat little deal," Mauer said. ... LHP Scott Diamond (10-5, 3.04) will start on Tuesday for the Twins against RHP Hisashi Iwakuma (4-3, 3.64). Diamond is appealing a six-game suspension handed down after he was ejected from his last start for throwing behind Texas OF Josh Hamilton. Iwakuma is 3-1 with a 2.27 ERA in his last seven starts.
Hernandez (13-5), who picked up his 23rd career complete game and ninth shutout, hasn't lost a decision since June 12. Franklin Gutierrez went 1 for 2 with two stolen bases in his first game since June 28 because of a concussion.
Liam Hendriks (0-7) was almost King-like, but it wasn't quite enough to get him his first career victory. He gave up three hits and struck out six in nine outstanding innings, his only blemish the homer to Thames.
Joe Mauer had a single and Justin Morneau had a triple for the Twins, who have lost 14 of their last 17.
Hernandez's brilliance came as no surprise. The Venezuelan has long been one of baseball's best pitchers, and he's on a roll these days even by his sterling standards. He threw a perfect game against Tampa Bay on Aug. 15 and has allowed one earned run or fewer 16 times this season.
To watch Hendriks, a 23-year-old Aussie who hasn't picked up a win in 14 career starts and has been sent back down to Triple-A twice this season, match King Felix pitch for pitch through seven innings was something entirely unexpected. He needed just 68 pitches to get through six innings against the free-swinging Mariners before Thames got him in the eighth.
Gutierrez singled in the first inning, a welcome sight for a Mariners offense that has missed his right-handed bat in the lineup and his glove in center field. But the mental part of his recovery from the concussion he suffered when he was hit on the ear by a pickoff attempt against Boston is ongoing.
When Hendriks tried to pick him off two pitches later, Gutierrez gingerly scurried back to first base, protecting his head with his right hand. Later in the sixth, Hendriks buzzed him with a pitch up and in that appeared to hit Gutierrez on the hand, and the outfielder wasn't happy as he stomped off to first base.
He took an extra-base hit away from Trevor Plouffe in the third, ranging to the wall in left-center and leaping to grab it as Plouffe just shook his head. Hernandez grinned as he watched his center fielder haul it in, hinting that another magical night could be in the offing.
Not exactly perfect, he walked Josh Willingham in the second inning, but was carving up the Twins and kept a no-hitter going until Mauer singled with two outs in the fourth inning. The Twins had two on in the fifth and Morneau led off the seventh with a triple before Hernandez steeled himself and got Ryan Doumit, Trevor Plouffe and Jamey Carroll to ground out and keep Minnesota scoreless.
Thames led off the eighth inning with a homer that barely reached the flower bed beyond the left field wall, and that proved to be all Hernandez needed.
NOTES: It's the second nine-decision win streak of Hernandez's career. The only other Mariners pitcher to have two win streaks of at least nine decisions is Randy Johnson. ... Mauer passed Earl Battey for the most games caught by a Twins player, catching his 832nd on Monday night. "It's a pretty neat little deal," Mauer said. ... LHP Scott Diamond (10-5, 3.04) will start on Tuesday for the Twins against RHP Hisashi Iwakuma (4-3, 3.64). Diamond is appealing a six-game suspension handed down after he was ejected from his last start for throwing behind Texas OF Josh Hamilton. Iwakuma is 3-1 with a 2.27 ERA in his last seven starts.
And you should still have to win freaking games to get the freaking Cy Young.
I wonder how long it'll be before Mariners management trades Felix to the monkey humping Yankees for two has-been prospects and a sno-cone?
 @svensson he has 13 wins, the AL leader has 16.  Look at his 7 ND's, 2 of those were wins where he left the game with a lead or a tie and 2 were blown saves.
If my math is right that is 45-2/3 innings of play giving up 7 earned runs, - 5 of those in a single game, a perfect game and two complete games in that streak.
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That's an ERA of 0.150!
I see another Cy Young award for Felix this year!
Who needs a stinkin' royal family WHEN WE HAVE ROYALTY RIGHT HERE IN OUR BACKYARD!!!!!!!!
I feel so bad for Hernandez. He has to pitch near-perfect games just to get a win due to his teammates being so crappy at the place. Imagine how much fun he would have in the playoffs if he pitched for a decent team.
@keeper Where were you during the 8 game winning streak? This team has shown that they have as much potential as any in Baseball. Ask Felix if he's rather be pitching for the Twins.
 @Gigantor!  @keeper That 8-game winning streak was against two terrible teams (Twins, Indians) and one mediocre team (Rays). And I was in the same place I was immediately after that 8-game winning streak where they got swept by the White Sox. Same place I was during their 4-game, 5-game, 6-game, and 7-game loosing streaks as well. The Mariners are not a good team.
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"Ask Felix if he's (sic) rather be pitching for the Twins"? Why would he want to do that? The Twins are terrible too! But ask him if he'd rather be pitching for the Rangers, Reds, Nationals, or a host of other teams and see what his response is.
 @oledawg  @Gigantor! That's very true. And may be Felix likes his teammates, maybe he likes Seattle. Who knows? Maybe he likes guaranteed money for 5 years rather than gambling on free agency. I still feel bad that he gets very little run support and that he isn't going to see the playoffs like he would if he played for a decent team. He deserves better.
 @keeper  @Gigantor! If he'd rather be somewhere else then why would he sign a 5 year extension, he could have went to free agency and picked a different team.