SEATTLE — Felix Hernandez looked more like royalty on Thursday than he has in some time, commanding his pitches against the New York Yankees in a manner that reminded of the glory days.
He allowed only one hit through his first five innings, and only three in seven innings overall. He struck out nine. He has not pitched this season like the staff ace that he once was, but he looked every bit of that before a lively crowd of 35,175 on Thursday.
But he lost. And it was not lost on the masses that on a night when Felix pitched the way he used to pitch, the Mariners also scored the way they used to score, which is to say they hardly scored at all, despite tallying 10 hits and putting several runners in scoring position.
Brett Gardner’s solo home run with one out in the sixth inning broke a scoreless tie, Aaron Judge punched an RBI single in the eighth, and a throwing error by Robinson Cano allowed two more runs to score in the ninth. So the Yankees and starting pitcher Luis Severino, he of the triple-digit fastball, earned the victory instead of Hernandez in this 4-1 triumph.
“That team is obviously a very good offensive club. (Hernandez) kept them in check all night,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “He got strikeouts, he got ground balls. It was very impressive. Couldn’t ask anything more out of him tonight. Unfortunately, the guy on the other side was a little bit better.”
Severino, a 23-year-old right-hander, allowed eight hits but pitched seven scoreless innings with six strikeouts and a walk. All told, the Mariners stranded 12 runners on base. Nine of those came against Severino.
“He had overpowering stuff tonight,” Servais said. “To carry that stuff deep into the game, it’s tough to get him.”
It seemed that Severino might crack first, especially when the Mariners put runners on first and third — a double by Kyle Seager, a single by Danny Valencia — with nobody out in the fourth inning. But Mitch Haniger and Jarrod Dyson each lifted balls into the air that were easily caught and afforded no opportunity for Seager to tag from third, and after a walk by Mike Zunino loaded the bases, Jean Segura grounded out to shortstop for the third out.
The scoreboard displayed zeroes until the sixth, when Gardner, the Yankees left fielder and leadoff hitter, smacked his 16th home run of the season, a no-doubter over the fence in right field.
“I was trying to go sinker down and away,” Hernandez said, “and it didn’t sink. … When you face a guy like Severino today, you can’t make any mistakes.”
The sixth was still a strong inning for Hernandez; he struck out the side, including a called strike three to Judge, the superstar rookie, for the third out. At that, Hernandez let out a brief yell as he stalked off the mound. After pitching a scoreless seventh, Hernandez exited to the chorus of an appreciative ovation.
Yet the Mariners couldn’t break through against Severino to make a winner out of their King. They managed only two baserunners in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. Neither of them reached second.
The Yankees added their second run in the eighth, after Chase Headley singled against reliever James Pazos, Gardner reached on an error by Segura, and Gary Sanchez, facing right-hander Tony Zych, walked to load the bases for Judge.
Major League Baseball’s home-run leader managed to fist a base hit into right field and drive in a run, though Zych escaped further harm when he coaxed Matt Holliday into an inning-ending, 5-3 double play.
The Mariners had a chance to score against All-Star reliever Dellin Betances, who hit Seager with a pitch before yielding a single to Valencia with one out. But Haniger grounded into a fielder’s choice, and Dyson struck out to end the inning, and things went a little sideways with two outs and Yankees on first and second base in the top of the ninth.
Headley hit a ground ball against Mariners reliever Max Povse that Cano was able to snag as his momentum carried him toward the first-base line. His hurried throw to first base, though, was so wild that it scooted all the way to the backstop, allowing Didi Gregorius to score from second and Todd Frazier to score from first.
That made it 4-0. Cano ripped an RBI double into the right-center field gap against Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman to at least get the Mariners on the board in the bottom of the ninth, though Nelson Cruz flew out to right field to cap the frustration.
