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Mariners hope to claim rare series win

May 18, 2008 - 2:33 PM San Diego (16-28) at Seattle (17-27) 4:10 pm EDT

SEATTLE (Ticker) - Erik Bedard provided the Seattle Mariners a much-needed lift on Saturday. Now they they hope Felix Hernandez can keep the momentum going.

The Mariners hope to win a series for the first time in over a month when they meet the San Diego Padres in the rubber match of a three-game set on Sunday.

One of the reasons Bedard was acquired in the offseason from Baltimore was to ease the burden on the 22-year-old Hernandez (2-4, 3.38 ERA) so he would not have to be the ace of the staff.

However, the young righthander has been done in recently by a lack of control and a lack of run support, thus the 1-2 punch of Bedard and Hernandez has yet to post wins in consecutive starts.

Hernandez, who has walked 18 batters during his five-game winless drought, is receiving less than three runs of support per game. He lost his fourth consecutive start for the first time in his career in Tuesday's 5-2 loss at Texas when he allowed three runs over six innings, walking a season-high five in the process.

His pitching counterpart will be Shawn Estes (1-0, 2.57), who is coming off his first win since the 2005 season. The lefthander allowed three runs over 5 1/3 innings in Tuesday's 4-3 win over the Chicago Cubs.