Felix sinks the Pirates ship

Well Felix Hernandez took the mound for the Mariners today. Now when Felix takes the mound in interleague play I am always reminded of 5 years ago when Felix took Johan Santana deep for his first homerun and grand slam of his career. Felix went against the A.J. Burnett and both pitchers were ready to go. Here on the west coast I had to wake up early that way I could watch the 9 AM start time. A.J. Burnett came out dealing as he struck out the 2 out of the first 3 batters, Felix didn't have an easy first inning as Burnett did. Starling Marte lead off the bottom of the first by doubling to left field then after that Andrew McCutchen burned Mariners pitching staff again with his 5th straight hit to drive in Marte and give the Pirates the early 1-0 lead. Burnett went 1-2-3 in both the second and third inning while striking out five batters. After the first inning Felix was the same way having easy innings.

The top of the fourth inning the Mariners finally got to Burnett. Michael Saunders got the inning started by becoming the first base runner of the game for the M's by walking, he then advanced to second base on a wild pitch by Burnett. Jason Bay then walked bringing up Kyle Seager, who is always great in a clutch situation, but not this time, Burnett got Seager looking for the first out of the inning. Kendrys Morales grounded out to move Bay and Saunders over and on another wild pitch Saunders was able to score easily and the Mariners tied the game at 1-1 without even getting a hit in the fourth. Felix continued to dominate the Pirates by pitching extremely well. Felix got into a jam in the fifth, Jordy Mercer got the inning started by doubling to left and following that Clint Barmes was able to fly out and advance Mercer to third, but thankfully Felix was able to get out of the jam by striking out A.J. Burnett and Starling Marte.

In the top half of the seventh Jesus Montero helped out Felix by hitting a big fly to center field and giving the Mariners the 2-1 lead. Felix was able to finish 8 strong innings and got one more at bat and then in the bottom of the ninth inning Tom "The Bartender" Wilhelmsen came in to shut the door and close the game for Felix and the Mariners. Wilhelmsen had an easy inning and earned his ninth save of the year and securing Felix's fifth win of the season as well. The Mariners improve back to 3 games under .500 at 16-19 and will take tomorrow off and come home and play the Oakland A's for a three game series.......im sure @Shakabrodie is going to watch that series with interest. With this win Felix moves into second place in the MLB in wins with 5, 2nd in ERA with a 1.53, fourth in the MLB in strikeouts with 56, and finally 5th in WHIP with a 0.90.

NOTES: The only note I have is that the M's need to work on their hitting as they went 3-30 today.