King Felix rocked: Mariners ace allows eight runs, records just one out
As the saying goes, it’s good to be the king. But we’ll just add that even a king is prone to having a bad day, which is exactly what Felix Hernandez experienced in Friday’s 10-0 loss to the Houston Astros.
The longtime Seattle Mariners ace was knocked from his start after facing just nine batters. Hernandez was tagged for eight earned runs, which tied a career-high. on five hits, including a pair of home runs. The one out recorded also tied his shortest career outing, which now spans 316 starts.
The start unquestionably qualifies as the worst outing in a potential Hall of Fame career. In fact, it also qualifies among the worst outings in baseball dating back some 46 years.
The rough night came at the aggressive hands of a previously struggling Astros lineup. Houston entered play on a seven-game losing streak overall, and had scored just four runs total during a three-game series against the Chicago White Sox.
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It didn’t take long at all to turn those struggles around. After a Jose Altuve infield single and Preston Tucker walk started the inning, Houston’s offense started knocking Hernandez all over Minute Maid Park.
George Springer opened the scoring with a run-scoring double. One batter later, Evan Gattis grounded back to Hernandez, who fired home wildly allowing two runs to score. The play was scored a fielder’s choice and throwing error allowing he second run to score. The fielder’s choice kept all runs in the inning as earned.
After Hernandez recovered to strike out rookie Carlos Correa for his lone out, Luis Valbuena stepped in and snapped an 0-for-19 slump with a rocket three-run homer to right-center. Jason Castro then capped the inning and Hernandez’s outing with a two-run blast.
After the game, manager Lloyd McClendon dismissed any concerns about Hernandez’s health.
It was just a rough night, which Hernandez had no problem owning up to.
“It was a blink of the eye,” he said. “It was 6-0 in 16 pitches. My fault. I killed the bullpen, too. It’s on me. This is the worst start of my career.”
Seattle’s bullpen gobbled up 6 2/3 innings. Backup catcher Jesus Sucre handled the eighth and didn’t allow a run despite a leadoff walk.
For Houston, it was the game they’ve been searching for over a week now. No one could have expected it coming at the expense of Felix Hernandez Carlos Correa bounced back from his first-inning strikeout to hit a home run in his home debut.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
