Felix's elbow now a painful question

His manager felt some things in his gut after watching Mariners star pitcher Felix Hernandez leave the mound just five batters into the game.

Nausea would likely be one of them. A deep sense of foreboding would be another, especially since Hernandez complained of tightness in his elbow. But by the time Wednesday night's 5-4 loss to the Minnesota Twins was done, there was only one feeling Mike Hargrove was willing to cop to.

"My gut feeling is that Felix is going to be OK, but I have nothing at all to base that on," Hargrove said in a somber clubhouse.

Hargrove could be praying that he proves an accurate prognosticator. Perhaps he is simply whistling as loud as he can as darkness descends on a 5-5 team waiting anxiously for Hernandez to be re-evaluated this morning.

The crowd of 20,871 at Safeco Field, many of whom hadn't arrived to see Hernandez pitch to the game's first five batters before being pulled, seemed to share that concern as a surreal mood descended on the ballpark. It was a strange night that ended on a high note, hitting-wise, with a run-scoring single by Jose Vidro, but a terrible one, base-running-wise, as Adrian Beltre was thrown out at the plate trying to score the equalizer.

In all, though, it was a night doomed to end badly, no matter how the Mariners fared.

Elbows are always a serious business.

Any Mariners doubting that could walk across the field and ask the Twins about that nagging elbow tightness that their own star hurler, Francisco Liriano, complained of last season before being declared out until 2008.

Or, the Mariners could just tap Seattle relief pitcher Arthur Rhodes on the shoulder — of his non-throwing arm — and ask about the career-threatening elbow injury he's dealing with.

For the record, Hargrove's gut was overflowing with positive vibes about Rhodes when he first reported some elbow tightness back in spring training.

So, it really is time for the Mariners to hold their breath. Hernandez was examined Wednesday night by team physician Dr. Mitch Storey, though the club won't say whether Hernandez is to undergo a magnetic resonance imaging scan today. Hernandez left the ballpark before the game was over.

"Any time you lose a pitcher with the talent that Felix has, it's not a good time," Hargrove finally admitted after some prodding. "It's scary for him and for the club. And it takes a little bit of time to recover."

The Mariners took nearly six innings to recover from the initial blow, falling behind 5-0 by the second inning. But relievers Jake Woods, George Sherrill and Julio Mateo held the Twins to just two hits from there, while Richie Sexson launched the comeback with a three-run homer in the sixth off Twins starter Carlos Silva.

Hargrove said third-base coach Carlos Garcia made the proper call in the ninth by waving Beltre around third on Vidro's single after Twins right fielder Michael Cuddyer overran the ball.

The Mariners will have to be equally aggressive as they go up against reigning Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana today in a bid to avoid a sweep. Hernandez was supposed to represent Seattle's one sure victory this series, having entered 2-0 and with a streak of 17 scoreless innings to start the year.

"He was pitching like he usually does," catcher Kenji Johjima said of Hernandez's outing. "I didn't know anything was wrong until he stepped off the mound and waved to the dugout."

Hernandez had already allowed two singles, walked the bases loaded and thrown a wild pitch to bring home the first run against him this season. He then allowed a second run on a Michael Cuddyer groundout and fell behind 3-1 in the count to Justin Morneau before throwing in the proverbial towel.

Yet Johjima still insisted Hernandez's fastball looked fine and nothing was too unusual.

"I'm very worried," Johjima said. "I was worried during the game. But as the game went by, I had to think about the other pitchers on the mound."

One of those was Woods, who replaced Hernandez, walked Morneau, then allowed the third run charged to his starter on a Mike Redmond single. Woods yielded two more runs in the second on a Morneau single before he and his team seemed to recover from the initial shock.

"We lost the game, but hopefully we'll find out everything's OK with Felix," said Vidro, now 7 for 13 in the last three games after two more hits. "He's our ace and we need to have him here."

Geoff Baker: 206-464-8286 or gbaker@seattletimes.com. Read his daily blog at www.seattletimes.com/Mariners