Felix Hernandez was on a pitch count and coming off a strained hamstring that had kept him out of the Seattle Mariners’ rotation since Sept. 8, so they weren’t expecting blast-from-the-past, super-charged Hernandez to end what has been a tumultuous 2018 on a positive note.
But Wednesday night was more of the same of a career-worst season in just about every way for Hernandez. For consistency sake, he even allowed a first-inning home run, with Marcus Semien getting a 91-mph fastball down the pipe.
Hernandez would toss four-plus innings and was charged for five runs, four earned (on his own error) on three hits with two walks and four strikeouts in his final start of 2018, with the Mariners losing to the Oakland Athletics, 9-3, at Safeco Field.