Final
Rangers-Mariners Preview
May 4, 2009 - 5:17 AM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior WriterTexas (11-12) at Seattle (14-10), 10:10 p.m. EDT
Felix Hernandez is off to the best start of his five-year career. It could get better if he can reverse his fortunes against the Texas Rangers.
Coming off a perfect April, the right-hander looks for his fifth win when the Seattle Mariners open a two-game home series with the Rangers on Monday night.
Hernandez (4-0, 2.38 ERA) allowed four hits and struck out nine in eight scoreless innings of a 9-1 road win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday. After not allowing a run in consecutive starts, Hernandez's scoreless-innings streak reached 19, the longest by a Mariner since J.J. Putz went 22 innings in 2007.
"I just want to go out there and pound the strike zone, that's all," Hernandez told the Mariners' official Web site.
The 23-year-old has not always been able to do that against Texas.
He is 4-8 with a 4.38 ERA in 16 starts against the Rangers. He also went 0-4 with a 4.04 ERA in six starts last season, walking 20 in 35 2-3 innings.
Hernandez might not have an easy time changing his luck when the AL West-leading Mariners (15-10) face Texas (12-12) for the first time this season. The Rangers - 2 1/2 games behind Seattle in the division - went 11-8 versus the Mariners last season, including 5-4 at Safeco Field.
Set to open a seven-game road trip, Texas is looking for its third straight victory after winning 5-1 over the White Sox on Sunday to take two of three in the home series.
Ian Kinsler hit his ninth homer, and the eighth leadoff shot of his career to tie a club record.
"It's a really good feeling to be leading 1-0 after one at-bat," said Kinsler, who has three leadoff homers this season and is batting .337 with 25 RBIs in 24 games. "It's just something that kind of happens. It's not like I'm going out there trying to hit a home run my first at bat."
Michael Young had two hits to extend his hitting streak to seven games for the Rangers. Young is hitting .387 (12-for-31) during his run and .308 (12-for-39) versus Hernandez.
While Hernandez has struggled of late against Texas, Kevin Millwood (2-2, 2.13) hasn't fared well in recent outings versus Seattle.
Millwood is 7-9 with a 4.72 ERA in 18 career starts against the Mariners, but 0-5 with a 6.07 ERA since beating them on July 23, 2007.
The right-hander, though, pitched well in the first month of the season. He allowed two earned runs and 10 hits in eight innings of a 5-4 win over Oakland on Tuesday. His 38 innings pitched are among the most in the majors.
Jose Lopez, a lifetime .308 hitter versus Millwood, blooped an RBI single in the 15th inning to give Seattle an 8-7 home win over Oakland on Sunday.
Ichiro Suzuki's two-out single in 13th capped a three-run comeback for the Mariners, who took two of three in the series after winning the finale that lasted 5 hours, 2 minutes. Kenji Johjima's homer in the ninth sent the game to extra innings.
"It shows the character of this club," first-year Seattle manager Don Wakamatsu said.
Suzuki is batting .431 (25-for-58) with seven RBIs against Millwood.
- AL
FINAL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
TEXAS 0 0 0 2 2 2 0 0 0 6 10 0
SEATTLE 0 0 0 0 4 0 1 0 0 5 9 0 (FINAL)
BATTERIES: TEX - KEVIN MILLWOOD, C.J. WILSON (8TH), FRANK FRANCISCO (8TH) AND
JARROD SALTALAMACCHIA
SEA - FELIX HERNANDEZ, SEAN WHITE (7TH), DENNY STARK
(9TH) AND KENJI JOHJI
May 5 12:38 AM - AL
AT SEATTLE - SCORING UPDATE
FIELDER'S CHOICE BY ICHIRO SUZUKI SCORED FRANKLIN
GUTIERREZ.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, I SUZUKI ON FIRST, 2 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: TEXAS 6
SEATTLE 5 BOTTOM, 7TH
DUE UP FOR SEATTLE: E CHAVEZ (.297, 0-FOR-3)
Rangers 6, Mariners 5 Bot 7, 0 OutsMay 4 11:57 PM - AL
AT SEATTLE - SCORING UPDATE
TWO-RUN HOME RUN BY CHRIS DAVIS (6) TO RIGHT WITH 1 OUT IN
THE 6TH OFF FELIX HERNANDEZ SCORED DAVID MURPHY.
CURRENT SCORE: TEXAS 6, SEATTLE 4
DUE UP FOR TEXAS: J SALTALAMACCHIA (.270, 0-FOR-2)
Rangers 6, Mariners 4 Top 6, 0 OutsMay 4 11:31 PM - AL
AT SEATTLE - SCORING UPDATE
THREE-RUN HOME RUN BY FRANKLIN GUTIERREZ (3) TO LEFT WITH 1
OUT IN THE 5TH OFF KEVIN MILLWOOD SCORED JOSE LOPEZ AND KENJI
JOHJIMA.
CURRENT SCORE: TEXAS 4, SEATTLE 4
DUE UP FOR SEATTLE: Y BETANCOURT (.293, 0-FOR-1)
Rangers 4, Mariners 4 Bot 5, 0 OutsMay 4 11:17 PM - AL
AT SEATTLE - SCORING UPDATE
SOLO HOME RUN BY RUSSELL BRANYAN (7) TO RIGHT WITH 0 OUT IN
THE 5TH OFF KEVIN MILLWOOD.
CURRENT SCORE: TEXAS 4, SEATTLE 1
DUE UP FOR SEATTLE: A BELTRE (.214, 0-FOR-1)
Rangers 4, Mariners 1 Bot 5, 0 OutsMay 4 11:13 PM - 121
roots - AL
AT SEATTLE - SCORING UPDATE
TWO-RUN HOME RUN BY MICHAEL YOUNG (7) TO RIGHT WITH 1 OUT
IN THE 5TH OFF FELIX HERNANDEZ SCORED ELVIS ANDRUS.
CURRENT SCORE: TEXAS 4, SEATTLE 0
DUE UP FOR TEXAS: H BLALOCK (.261, 1-FOR-2, RBI)
Rangers 4, Mariners 0 Top 5, 0 OutsMay 4 11:06 PM - 47
roots - AL
AT SEATTLE - SCORING UPDATE
SINGLE BY MARLON BYRD SCORED HANK BLALOCK.
SITUATION: 2 RUNS IN, M BYRD ON FIRST, 0 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: TEXAS 2
SEATTLE 0 TOP, 4TH
DUE UP FOR TEXAS: N CRUZ (.281, 0-FOR-1)
Rangers 2, Mariners 0 Top 4, 0 OutsMay 4 10:49 PM - AL
AT SEATTLE - SCORING UPDATE
DOUBLE BY HANK BLALOCK SCORED MICHAEL YOUNG.
SITUATION: 1 RUN IN, H BLALOCK ON SECOND, 0 OUT
CURRENT SCORE: TEXAS 1
SEATTLE 0 TOP, 4TH
DUE UP FOR TEXAS: M BYRD (.316, 0-FOR-1)
Rangers 1, Mariners 0 Top 4, 0 OutsMay 4 10:47 PM
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