• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

King Felix targets win No. 7 in Chicago

Jun 7, 2011 - 3:17 PM (Sports Network) - Felix Hernandez takes aim at his seventh win of the season this evening when the Seattle Mariners continue a three-game series against the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field.

Hernandez won his second straight decision on Thursday against Tampa Bay, as he allowed just a run and five hits over seven innings. He also struck out 11 batters and improved to 6-2 on he year, while lowering his earned run average to 3.04.

The 25-year-old right-hander, who won just 13 games a year ago, while claiming the American League's Cy Young Award, has received the second-lowest run support of any AL starter since the beginning of the 2010 season, but the Mariners provided their ace with eight runs

"That was good," said Hernandez, whose seventh win last year didn't come until July 10. "It's been a while since we've had that many runs in one game. You can't get relaxed, because you've still got to make your pitches. But it was good."

Hernandez beat the White Sox with a complete-game effort on May 6 and is 3-3 lifetime against them with a 2.94 ERA in 10 starts.

Chicago, meanwhile, will counter with Phil Humber, who is 4-3 on the year with a 3.06 ERA. Humber earned the win last Tuesday in Boston, as he held the Red Sox to four runs and nine hits in 7 2/3 innings.

He did not get a decision against Hernandez and the Mariners back on May 6, but has pitched to a 2.25 ERA in two appearances against them.

Chicago continued its recent mastery of the Mariners in Monday's opener, as John Danks pitched into the eighth inning to pick up his first win of the year, outdueling rookie Michael Pineda in the White Sox' 3-1 victory.

Danks (1-8) lost his first eight decisions in the worst opening to a season by a White Sox starter since 1942. The lefty looked like his 15-game winning self of a year ago on Monday, allowing just one unearned run on seven hits while striking out six and walking just one in 7 1/3 innings.

"I'd be lying if I told you it hadn't been tough ... I had been wondering when it would turn around," Danks admitted.

Paul Konerko hit a solo homer, while A.J. Pierzynski went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored for Chicago, which dropped two straight to Detroit over the weekend.

Pineda (6-3) was effective despite taking the loss, allowing two runs on five hits in seven frames for the Mariners, who came into the three-game series on a 14-4 stretch.

Chicago took two of three from the Mariners earlier in the year and is 12-2 against them since the start of last season. Seattle lost all seven games it played last season in the Windy City and has dropped nine in a row there overall.