MLB Free AgencyBack in the start of the 2014 season Hernandez was a well commented pitcher for all the wrong reasons with his terrible start, now this season is another story with the help of Nelson Cruz 17th home run Felix became the first seven-game winner in the majors and the Seattle Mariners beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-3 on Friday night, leaving behind his previous outing against Boston (7-1), Hernandez only loss for 2015 lowering his ERA to 2.19.

For the Mariners this the first of six straight games to be played on artificial turf, they’re the only six games all season Seattle will play on artificial turf, to continue on Monday when they will visit Tampa Bay for a three-game series.

Edwin Encarnacion’s two-out homer in the first was the only flaw for Hernandez, who gave up four hits and walked two in an otherwise masterful seven innings, almost every time Encarnacion meets the pitcher in Toronto he hits a homer against him, the very last time the Mariners visited Rogers Centre there were hits left and right, scoring seven runs in one inning tarnishing Seattle chance for the wild card back in September 23rd, undoubtedly one of the worst innings of his career, the Cy Young Award winner now ranks 70th on Baseball career strike-out list moving past Catfish Hunter and into a tie with Orel Hershiser thanks to his eight strikeouts this past game, Hernandez came in 5-6 in 13 career starts against Toronto. His 4.80 ERA against the Blue Jays was the highest of any opponent he’s faced more than once, Toronto lost for the eighth time in 10 games and fell to 2-9 in one-run games.

Chris Colabello hit a two-run homer off Fernando Rodney in the ninth after Carson Smith worked the eighth, Rodney got pinch-hitter Josh Donaldson to fly out for his 11th save, the Mariners scored three times with a two-out rally in the fourth. Kyle Seager singled, Welington Castillo walked and Morrison hit a two-run triple past a diving Colabello in right, catcher Mike Zunino followed with an RBI double, with a leadoff drive to center off Marco Estrada, Cruz made it 4-1 in the sixth, Estrada (1-3) allowed four runs and six hits in a season-high seven innings, so far no wins in the last four starts, unlike Hernandez with 3-0 with a 2.45 ERA in four road starts.

 

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